Chapter 22: Xu Da's Fury: I'm Going to Kill You!

Ring ring ring...

The phone on the desk suddenly rang.

Zhou Zhongyi, who had been writing his self-criticism report, was so startled that his pen jerked, leaving a long ugly streak across the paper.

Writing the report had already put him in a foul mood, and now, staring at that ruined line, he was so furious he slammed the pen down.

He snatched up the receiver and launched straight into a tirade: "What is it, what is it?! If something's happened, can't you come report it in person?! What are you calling for if nothing's wrong — don't you know I'm busy?!"

Lü Qingsong was stunned for a moment, then it hit him all at once.

Bad enough that the Commander chewed me out — now I'm getting an earful from a regiment commander?

"Zhou Zhongyi!"

"You little punk, have you lost your mind?! I'm a Division Commander — do I have to come running to you to report things? Are you staging a mutiny?!"

Zhou Zhongyi shot up from his stool like he'd been electrocuted: "S-sorry, sir, Division Commander, sir! I thought it was one of those little troublemakers from below..."

Lü Qingsong was beside himself with rage: "Shut your mouth!"

Zhou Zhongyi's cheek twitched uncontrollably.

What in the hell was going on?

He'd already been chewed out in person and told to write a self-criticism — why was there a follow-up phone call now?

Was the first round not satisfying enough, so he called back for seconds?

Lü Qingsong drew a deep breath, and then his inner volcano erupted: "I didn't have the full picture before, but I do now."

"It's because you can't read a situation to save your life — you hear the wind and think it's raining — that's exactly why this whole fiasco happened!"

Zhou Zhongyi protested with a grieved expression: "Division Commander, I didn't — it really was them who..."

Smack!

Lü Qingsong's palm came down hard on his desk: "You still want to argue with me?! The assessment scores speak for themselves!"

"I'm telling you — write that self-criticism properly and make it deep. When the division holds its meeting, you will stand up and make a public self-criticism. If it's not thorough enough, you rewrite the whole thing!"

Zhou Zhongyi nodded miserably: "Yes, sir..."

Before he could finish, the line went dead with a sharp click.

He dropped back into his chair, stared at the few half-hearted lines he'd scrawled on the paper, and in a fit of rage tore the whole thing to shreds.

He bellowed toward the door: "Get that bastard Zhang Jiantao in here — tell him to run!"

"Yes, sir!" The guard sprinted out immediately.

Zhou Zhongyi crossed his arms over his chest, seething: "Damn it, I'm not taking this punishment alone. I got chewed out, so you're not getting off either, you little punk!"

* * *

By evening, the barracks were alive with noise and energy.

The assessment was over, and next came the unit assignments.

Once they were assigned to a regular unit, they'd be real soldiers at last, and everyone was buzzing with anticipation about their new postings.

The squad leaders had stopped keeping them in line.

Out on the track, a football match had already broken out.

Plenty of soldiers from the same hometown had gathered in clusters, chatting and catching up.

Only First Squad was a pocket of dead silence — completely out of place with the festive atmosphere outside, like a sealed-off world of its own.

Inside the barracks room, several soldiers sat on their folding stools, trembling.

Behind the door, Xu Da sat with a dark expression, not saying a word — and had been sitting that way for a long time.

Ma Xiaoshan and the others were sick with regret. If they'd known, they would've just not come back after dinner.

They could've played football, chatted with friends — even a walk would've been fine.

Now they were stuck.

Once they'd come back, no one dared leave.

Anyone who stood up and walked past Xu Da right now would be asking for death.

Just then, the door swung open.

Chen Erhu and Wang Yong strolled in, grinning.

"I passed everything this time — reckon we'll get assigned to the same unit, right?"

"Definitely. Our scores are close enough — we're bound to end up in the same company."

Chen Erhu beamed: "That's great, that's great! As long as I can keep following you and Brother Hui, I don't care where we go."

Wang Yong threw an arm around him with a grin: "We looked out for you so much this time — once we're in the unit, you'd better wash my socks and underwear, yeah?"

"No problem!" Chen Erhu nodded vigorously. "I'll definitely wash Brother Hui's — he's my big bro. Not by blood, but better than blood!"

Wang Yong froze: "What the hell — what about me?"

Chen Erhu looked at him: "You? You're like a second brother — the distant kind, not that close. I wash for Big Bro, not for Second Bro."

Wang Yong rolled his eyes. This kid's not as dumb as he looks, is he?

Then he suddenly noticed the atmosphere in the room felt off.

He hadn't paid attention when he first walked in, but now he saw the whole group sitting there stiff as statues, frantically shooting him meaningful looks.

Wang Yong laughed: "What's wrong with you lot — something wrong with your eyes? Why are you all just sitting there like lumps? Get up! The assessment's over — that Xu guy can't boss us around anymore. Let's celebrate!"

Ma Xiaoshan jerked his chin desperately in a silent plea for Wang Yong to read the room.

Wang Yong stared at him blankly: "What's up with you? Jaw cramp? Come here, come here — I'll fix it for you with a good slap!"

He raised his arm, about to deliver a big smack.

Ma Xiaoshan couldn't hold it in any longer and hissed urgently: "Behind you — the Squad Leader — he's right behind you!"

Wang Yong's arm froze halfway: "Squad Leader?"

He turned around and found himself staring straight into Xu Da's murderous glare.

The two locked eyes for two seconds, and then Wang Yong snapped to attention on pure reflex: "Good evening, Squad Leader!"

Chen Erhu spun around too, and the moment he caught that icy stare, he straightened up in fright: "Good evening, Squad Leader!"

Xu Da swept them with a look, his gaze boring into Wang Yong: "I'm not good at all."

Wang Yong's heart sank: Oh no, oh no — this guy's here to settle the score.

He knew full well that Xu Da had been goading Lin Hui and him into training like madmen so their high scores would earn him honors and help him with his Officer Promotion and staying on.

Today, he and Lin Hui had deliberately given up, wrecking Xu Da's plan.

Xu Da was petty at the best of times — something this big was bound to set off a volcanic eruption.

Wang Yong's eyes darted around, and he quickly forced a smile: "Squad Leader, you're not looking so well — you must be exhausted from worrying about us so much."

"I noticed you didn't even go to dinner — you must be starving. How about this — I'll go to the canteen and grab you something to eat."

He tugged at Erhu, who caught on immediately: "Me — me too, I'll go too!"

The two of them made a break for the door.

They'd barely reached it when — bang — the door slammed shut with force.

Both of them froze on the spot, faces drained of color.

Wang Yong turned his head, his voice shaking: "S-Squad — Squad Leader, what are you doing?"

Xu Da rose to his feet, eyes locked on Wang Yong: "Tell me — why did you and Lin Hui deliberately tank the assessment?"

Before Wang Yong could open his mouth, Chen Erhu jumped in with a grieved look: "Squad Leader, I — I gave it everything I had, I used every last bit of strength I had, but I just..."

Xu Da roared without even turning his head: "I'm not talking about you, you useless waste — get out of my sight!"

Chen Erhu was so frightened he couldn't form words. He shuffled back a step and pressed himself behind Wang Yong.

Xu Da ignored him, stepped forward until he was right in front of Wang Yong, and fixed him with a death stare: "Talk. Why did you two do it on purpose?"

Staring into Xu Da's kill-on-sight eyes, Wang Yong had no backbone left. He stammered: "Squad Leader, I — I trained too hard, my body — my body gave out."

Thud.

Xu Da drove his fist into Wang Yong's chest.

The force sent Wang Yong stumbling back several steps.

He felt the searing pain in his chest, wincing and baring his teeth, and stared up at Xu Da in disbelief: "You — you actually hit me?"

Every soldier in the room shot to their feet in shock.

Nobody had expected Xu Da to actually throw a punch.

Xu Da closed the distance to Wang Yong in three strides and roared in his face: "Tell me — did you and that Lin Hui conspire to screw me over?"

Wang Yong's eyes went red: "Fuck, my own parents have never hit me — you dare hit me?!"

Xu Da paused, then rage surged up: "So what if I hit you?! This is the army — don't think recruit training is as gentle as it gets. Once you're assigned to a regular unit, it won't be!"

"Troublemakers like you — soldiers who won't listen and deliberately cause problems — need to be properly disciplined!"

"When a veteran corrects you, it's for your own good. That punch was light!"

Wang Yong's own temper flared: "Bullshit! How are we not listening?! How are we causing problems?! You're the one who's wrong here!"

Xu Da's eyes went wide: "You — what did you say?! I'm wrong?! I trained you up, I helped you get good scores, I helped you earn honors — and I'm wrong?!"

Wang Yong glared back, refusing to back down: "Yes, you're wrong!"

"Every other squad leader encourages their soldiers. When training gets exhausting, they let them rest. When training gets brutal, they even bring them late-night snacks and instant noodles."

"But you? You've never once looked out for us."

"When we were tired, you didn't let us rest — you just pushed us harder."

"I was already running on empty, and you were still there stirring things up between me and Lin Hui, making us chase each other around like dogs."

He said furiously: "You made us compete like crazy — wasn't that just so you could use our scores to step on us and stay on?!"

"If you'd been even half as decent to us as the other squad leaders, would we have done this?! This is your fault!"

Every soldier around them was stunned into silence, not daring to breathe.

Xu Da was the most hot-tempered of all the recruit squad leaders.

When his temper flared, even the other squad leaders gave him a wide berth.

Nobody had expected Wang Yong to talk to him like this today — wasn't this just going to blow Xu Da sky-high?

In that moment, Xu Da's eyes blazed with white-hot fury — because every word was true. That was exactly what he'd thought, and exactly what he'd done.

He wanted to stay on. He loved the army, he loved this life, and he didn't want to take off his uniform and go back to the mountains.

So he'd used this method — goading Wang Yong and Lin Hui into competing against each other, using them to earn honors, to help him with his Officer Promotion and staying on.

But now Wang Yong had exposed it all in front of everyone, and Xu Da felt like he'd been stripped naked and strung up for the whole world to gawk at.

He shook with rage, burning with shame and fury: "You're just a rookie — how dare you talk to me like that?! Who do you think you are?!"

"Have you got any respect left in you at all?! Today I'm going to teach you a proper lesson — teach you how to respect a veteran, how to follow orders!"

He swung his foot in a kick.

Wang Yong didn't even have time to react — he was sent flying and crashed hard onto the floor.

Chen Erhu was nearly in tears, rushing forward to intervene: "Squad Leader, don't hit him!"

Xu Da knew his chances of staying on were slim to none, and now he'd been stripped bare in front of everyone — his mind had been completely consumed by rage.

He shoved Chen Erhu aside: "Get out of the way!"

Wang Yong lay curled up in pain, and as he saw Xu Da charging toward him, a boundless fury surged up from somewhere deep inside.

He struggled to his feet: "Fuck you, I'm going all out!"

Several soldiers nearby bolted out of the room to find the Company Commander and the Political Instructor.

Just as Xu Da closed in, Wang Yong got to his feet.

He threw a punch; Xu Da ducked and countered with a fist straight to his stomach.

Wang Yong staggered back several steps, clutching his abdomen, unable to straighten up.

Xu Da glared at him furiously: "A squad leader's orders are to be obeyed absolutely. No matter what you're thinking, no matter what grievances you have — you swallow them!"

Just then, a shout rang out from behind: "Stop!"

Xu Da spun around to see Lin Hui come rushing in from outside.

In that instant, the fire in his eyes burned even hotter: "Lin Hui — I was just looking for you! You've come at exactly the right time!"

He lunged forward and tried to grab Lin Hui by the collar.

The moment his hand shot out, Lin Hui stepped back and let him grasp at nothing.

Xu Da paused, then charged again in fury — and Lin Hui sidestepped once more.

[Ding — Evasion +1!]

Suddenly, Lin Hui felt his footwork grow lighter and his reaction speed sharpen.

Xu Da lunged several more times in succession, every attempt coming up empty, the fury in his eyes burning hotter with each miss: "I'm ordering you to stand still!"

Lin Hui fixed him with a cold stare: "Squad Leader, I know you're furious. The poor assessment results are my responsibility — you can yell at me all you want. But what gives you the right to hit people?"

"Which article of the Military Regulations says you're allowed to hit someone?"

Xu Da's face flushed crimson: "Veterans disciplining rookies is the way it's always been — it's an unwritten tradition! Don't think that just because you've been to school and read some books, you can come here and lecture me. How many days have you even been here?!"

Lin Hui kept his gaze cold and steady: "I know you want to use our scores to stay on and get a shot at Officer Promotion. We didn't perform well, and that affected you — but it wasn't because you trained us poorly."

"I can go explain the situation to the Company Commander, or even the Regiment Commander — that it was us who..."

Xu Da snapped completely.

Wang Yong had already torn the wound open once; now here it was again — salt rubbed straight in.

This was nothing but deliberate humiliation, deliberate provocation!

"Bastard, shut your mouth!"

Xu Da roared and threw a punch.

Lin Hui saw the fist coming and dodged on instinct.

The moment the punch grazed past the top of his head, he drove off his back foot and his body slammed — thud — into Xu Da's shoulder.

Completely off-guard, Xu Da was sent stumbling backward several steps.

His head cracked straight into the edge of a bunk bed, and then a streak of crimson began trickling down his forehead.

Someone nearby clapped a hand over their mouth in horror: "Blood — blood — he's bleeding!"

Xu Da felt his entire skull buzzing.

He slowly raised his head and touched his forehead — warm, wet, and throbbing with pain.

Lin Hui panicked: "Squad Leader, are you alright? I — I didn't mean to."

At that moment, Xu Da's eyes were bloodshot, his fury boiling like molten steel: "Lin Hui — fuck you — I'm going to kill you today!"

With that, he snatched up a stool and came charging at Lin Hui with a roar...