Phone

Xue Chen walked over and nudged him with his foot. "Don't say I didn't warn you. If you lie down right after intense exercise, there's a ten percent chance you won't be able to get back up."

"Xue Chen, just leave me alone. Let me lie here." Lin Ran had no intention of getting up. Hearing Xue Chen's words, he thought the other man was deliberately trying to scare him.

"Exactly. We've run for so long, we need to rest." Wu Liang leaned his whole body against a tree and kept fanning himself, like a husky about to pass out from the heat.

"Let's lie down for a while." Aside from Qian Feng, the others felt the same way.

Xue Chen raised a brow. "Since you're all so eager to learn, pretend I didn't say anything."

"Xue Chen, go find somewhere to rest! That instructor is a total lunatic. Isn't he treating people like donkeys?" Kong Hui rubbed his waist. If he kept running like this, he felt it was about to break.

"I'm also suspicious. He must have eaten something bad last night, which is why he has that constipated look on his face today."

"I don't think so. He was definitely kicked out of bed by his girlfriend last night and cried his eyes out... Why is this instructor so terrifying?" Other resentful voices rose around them. Clearly, the instructor's first meeting gift had left an extremely deep impression on them.

Xue Chen ignored the complaining trainees and sat alone beneath the shade of a tree with his eyes closed. He felt that the instructor had more tricks up his sleeve. He silently guessed that what had just happened was merely a show of force, a declaration that the instructors held authority here.

"Beep—" Just as everyone was dozing off, a whistle calling them to assemble sounded from the field. The moment Lin Ran got up from the ground, he felt as though his waist had been crushed countless times. He immediately collapsed again, groaning in pain, his legs weak.

"Ow, my ass!" Wu Liang cried miserably, clutching his backside as he lay facedown on the ground, unable to rise. But upon hearing that death-knell whistle, they could only force down their physical discomfort. In their hearts, they had already braised, stir-fried, steamed, and deep-fried the instructor countless times, yet they still ran over with grins on their faces. Yes, life was that screwed up.

"Your assembly time was ten minutes and twenty-seven seconds. Congratulations, you've taken another step closer to toxic waste." After everyone had returned to the formation, the instructor standing on the platform glanced expressionlessly at his watch and continued his indiscriminate attacks.

This time, however, no one argued with him. It was not that the new students had suddenly become enlightened; they had simply been tormented badly enough by this instructor.

"You're Xue Chen, right? The top scorer of S City's college entrance exam." Suddenly, the instructor walked toward Xue Chen and pointed at him.

Xue Chen raised his head and looked at him. Though he did not know what the man was up to, he nodded. "What instructions do you have, Instructor?"

"Sometimes, when you're slacking off, you should control your timing and movements. Otherwise, people might think you're challenging the instructor's authority." The instructor spoke calmly.

Hearing this, many people froze before their expressions turned strange. Seeing that Xue Chen was the only one in the entire formation who seemed unaffected, they silently chanted, Endure! Endure! There are plenty of academically and physically gifted top students. I'm a rookie, I'm trash...

Xue Chen narrowed his eyes. He understood what the man meant. The instructor wanted to make him everyone's target. That old fox is truly despicable. "Instructor, it's not good to take the lead in making jokes."

"No need to be so modest. I think highly of you. Staying in a team like this is truly wasting your potential." Seeing his expression, the instructor raised his brows. He had not expected Xue Chen not to take the bait. He was not some bookworm who only knew how to study, and he would not be easy to handle.

"I'm really not being modest. My reflex arc is just a little long..." As soon as Xue Chen finished speaking, he fell backward. Qian Feng, who was beside him, stepped up and caught him. "He's weak... Instructor, I'll help him to the infirmary first!"

"..." The instructor thought, My target is gone...?

Phone

"Thanks!" As soon as he lay down on a bed in the infirmary, Xue Chen smiled at Qian Feng.

Qian Feng glanced around the infirmary and said quietly, "If we're putting on an act, we need to do it properly. Let the school doctor examine you first, or the instructor will find another excuse to punish us."

"You don't trust your acupuncture?" Xue Chen had not forgotten that Qian Feng had stuck two needles into his wrist on the way there, and he could not help teasing him.

"How could that be? I have complete confidence in my family's inherited techniques. Someone's coming..." Qian Feng lowered his voice halfway through his sentence to warn him.

Xue Chen also sensed something unusual. After resting with his eyes closed for a moment, he opened them and saw a middle-aged man in a white coat taking his pulse. The man then had him open his mouth and inspected his tongue coating. "It's nothing, just heatstroke. Go back and rest, and you'll be fine. I'll prescribe two tablets and give you two bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water. Remember to take the tablets when you leave."

After hearing that, Xue Chen looked at Qian Feng. "You really do have some skills."

"Of course!" Qian Feng replied with his eyes.

Xue Chen took the prescription written by the school doctor and left the infirmary with Qian Feng, heading toward the dormitory. On the way, they ran into several students they knew.

After returning to the dormitory, Xue Chen handed the two bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water to Qian Feng. "Here."

"Why are you giving this stuff to me?" Qian Feng frowned. It was not like he was going to drink it.

"Share blessings and hardships alike. You made me fake heatstroke, didn't you?" Xue Chen said with a grin.

"What? You..." Qian Feng was about to say something when he saw Xue Chen smiling at him. The sight suddenly made his mouth go dry, and he did not have the nerve to continue.

So, with the note issued by the school doctor, Xue Chen openly returned to the dormitory to rest. Qian Feng went back to the team, completely distracted, making Lin Ran and the others wonder whether something had happened to Xue Chen.

After returning to the dormitory, Xue Chen changed out of his camouflage uniform. Wearing a white shirt and black trousers, he went to the back wall of the dormitory, climbed over it, jumped out of the compound, and headed straight for the small woods behind the school.