Chapter 55: Distinct as the Waters of Jing and Wei
An overpowering, foul stench radiated from their entire bodies, and their faces and clothes were still stained with uncleansed yellowish-white filth.
Their eyes were hollow and numb.
Yet, deep within that numbness, a flame burned—one more frantic than ever before!
It was a morbid, desperate thirst for victory!
They never wanted to return to that place ever again!
Not even death could make them go back!
The victors, upon looking at this group of "companions," instinctively took half a step back and pinched their noses.
There was no mockery on their faces.
Only solemnity.
And a trace of fear—a fear so faint that even they themselves had not noticed it.
They could sense that the men opposite them were no longer human.
They were malevolent ghosts crawling out of a cesspool, driven solely by the desire for revenge!
Xiao Zhan and Wang Ba appeared on the reviewing platform right on time.
Xiao Zhan's gaze swept across the two sharply divided factions.
His eyes lingered for a moment on the filthy, grimy faces of the losers.
"It seems you all slept quite well last night," he asked with a smile, in the casual tone of making small talk.
The losers trembled violently!
Their teeth chattered loudly.
Their fists clenched until their knuckles turned white!
No one dared to answer.
They merely stared fixedly at Xiao Zhan with eyes that were bloodshot and blazing red!
That look was no longer simple awe.
It was a mixture of terror, hatred, and a frantic, burning ambition to replace him!
Xiao Zhan loved this kind of look.
This was precisely the kind of look he wanted.
"It appears you can't wait to begin today's game."
Xiao Zhan clapped his hands.
"Today's game is very simple."
"No more teams."
"You will form groups of three for a new round of confrontation."
As his words fell, a squad of personal guards stepped forward, carrying heavy crates of black iron chains and padlocks.
The chains were as thick as a child's arm.
The locks gleamed with a cold, sinister light.
The hearts of all the soldiers leaped into their throats!
What on earth were they planning to do?!
"Instructor Wang, assign their groups."
"Yes!"
Wang Ba pulled out a roster and began shouting out names.
"Wu Neng!"
"Sir, present!" Wu Neng stepped forward with a stride.
"Li Si!"
One of the victors walked out.
"Zhang Goudan!"
A filthy, foul-smelling loser stepped forward as well.
A hero of the vanguard daredevil squad.
A victor who had slept in the barracks the night before.
A loser who had just crawled out of the latrine.
The three of them stood together, the atmosphere indescribably bizarre.
"Lock them up," Wang Ba ordered coldly.
Two guards stepped forward, picked up a thick, heavy iron chain, and locked the three men's ankles tightly together!
The freezing iron chains pressed against their skin.
The filth on the loser's feet inevitably smeared onto the trouser legs of the other two.
The victor Li Si's face turned green instantly.
He wanted to pull away, but with his ankles shackled, he couldn't dodge at all!
Wu Neng, however, remained expressionless.
He merely lowered his head and gazed at the chain that bound their three fates together.
"Next! Zhao Tiezhu! Wang Ermazi! Sun Datou!"
Wang Ba continued reading the names.
One trio after another was formed.
Xiao Zhan had completely dismantled yesterday's alignments.
He had brutally and randomly melded the victors and the losers together.
Soon, the three thousand men had been transformed into a thousand triads of prisoners bound by iron chains.
"Today's training is called 'collective liability'."
Xiao Zhan's voice echoed across the silent military drill ground.
"You will fight as a squad."
"The rules are the same as yesterday. Use paintballs to shoot your enemies."
"However!"
Xiao Zhan's tone abruptly turned chilling!
"You are locked together!"
"If any paintball on any member of your squad is burst, the entire squad is 'eliminated'!"
"One person makes a mistake, and all three die together!"
"Boom!"
Every soldier's mind exploded once again!
As they looked at the two "teammates" chained beside them, their expressions changed instantly!
Those weren't teammates!
They were dead weight!
They were death warrants that could drag them down and kill them at any moment!
Especially the victors—when they looked beside them at the slow-moving, lethargic, foul-smelling losers, their hearts were filled with despair!
"Today's punishment is also very simple."
The corners of Xiao Zhan's mouth curled into a demonic smile.
"There are no victors."
"There are only survivors."
"All 'eliminated' squads will continue to sleep in the latrines tonight."
"The squad that survives to the end may sleep in the barracks and eat meat."
"Do you understand?!"
This time, no one roared in response.
The entire drill ground was as dead as a graveyard.
Every soldier was sizing up everyone outside their own squad with the eyes of a predator!
At the same time, they cast examining, vigilant, and even disgusted glances at the two "companions" locked to them.
From team confrontation to squad slaughter!
From collective honor to individual survival!
In just a single night, Xiao Zhan had torn the team they had so painstakingly built to absolute shreds!
Then, in a more cruel and bloody manner, he forced them to regroup!
"Your life is mine now!"
Wu Neng turned his head, staring at the two teammates beside him, and spoke coldly in an unchallengeable tone.
"The same goes for both of you."
"If you want to live, you damn well better snap out of it!"
Li Si's face contorted instantly!
The nauseating stench emanating from Zhang Goudan, a mixture of urine and feces, gripped his throat like an invisible hand!
He wanted to vomit!
He wanted to kick this dirty piece of trash who had crawled out of the latrine flying!
Yet, he could not do it.
That cold, heavy iron chain bound the fates of the three of them tightly together.
Zhang Goudan felt Li Si's undisguised disgust, and his already hollow eyes grew even dimmer. Instinctively, he tried to pull his foot back a little.
"Don't you fucking move!"
Wu Neng's voice, like an ice-tempered blade, stabbed into the ears of both men simultaneously.
Li Si shuddered all over.
Zhang Goudan froze as well.
Wu Neng did not look at either of them. His gaze, like that of a hawk, stared fixedly ahead.
Across the drill ground, one thousand such deformed triads were experiencing the same silent torment.
The pride and fastidiousness of the victors.
The inferiority and filth of the losers.
Bound together by iron chains, these traits were infinitely magnified and fermented, turning into an internal contradiction and hatred strong enough to drive a man insane!
On the reviewing platform, Xiao Zhan looked on at this scene with satisfaction.
The contradiction was precisely what he wanted!
The hatred was precisely what he wanted!