Free Web NovelChapter 259: Chapter 202: The Changing Battle! (Part One)
Hundred Meter Hurdles Training Area.
The sixth group was getting ready to go on.
The news that Fang Huai had broken the hook ladder record hadn’t reached here yet.
The firefighting martial arts competition wasn’t like many other troops—those not yet on the field didn’t just stand by waiting.
Most subjects involved hoses, ropes, ladders, and other equipment; the people in the waiting area would prepare and check their equipment by themselves before going on stage.
While doing this, they also bragged to each other.
"Eh, seriously, is that rookie really going to compete with our group?"
"Haha, I heard his legs were no good this morning; weren’t you guys going to pick on him? What, got cold feet?"
"Relax, you won’t have to compete against him. There are plenty of experts in this group. Indeed, the new recruit is quite freakish, but when he’s up against Lian Xu, he’s met his nemesis."
"Nemesis..."
In the crowd, Liu Shoulin, who had been losing to Lian Xu all day, chuckled and shook his head, glancing over at the directions of the horizontal bar and the 12-meter rope climb.
It was better to lose to one’s own comrades than to the Liupanshui Regiment, after all.
It’s just the hook ladder, such a shame.
At lunch today, the Guiyang Regiment gathered to tally the scores, saying that the current overall results showed the Anshun Brigade had higher average scores, while individual achievements were duked out by Lian Xu, Gui Qiang, Tao Dongdong, and Liu Shoulin.
Out of four people, except for Gui Qiang, the other three were in the sixth group.
The leadership had done this intentionally.
And Fang Huai, everyone knew, was not good at running events, otherwise he wouldn’t have abstained from the competition previously.
This morning’s three events were just a flash in the pan for him.
That’s why everyone had high hopes for Liu Shoulin.
Liu Shoulin was under tremendous pressure.
Apart from the load-bearing climbing, he had already lost in the other events he was bound to lose, and for the remaining events, he was even less confident.
Lian Xu was already far ahead of him, and with Gui Qiang in front, it seemed he could only compete with Tao Dongdong for third place.
At this moment in the sixth group, the spirit of the Liupanshui Regiment was at its peak, while the Guiyang Regiment was holding back anger, cheering for Liu Shoulin.
But no matter how much they cheered, they could only think about making their loss look a bit better.
At least Fang Huai had taken first place in the horizontal bar and the 12-meter rope climb. If Liu Shoulin could also win the load-bearing climbing, then when the single event champions were announced at the end of the competition, the Guiyang Regiment’s ranking would sound somewhat better, right?
"Hey, look, it looks like he’s really coming."
"Guiyang Regiment, your reinforcements have arrived!"
"Haha, just not sure if he’ll be of any use!"
The members of Group 6 watched the line of people approaching, under everyone’s gaze, and discussed among themselves.
He really did come.
Fang Huai, who was alone in the morning, now had a rather formidable team—out of seven people, there was one captain and four very uncommon senior non-commissioned officers.
As Fang Huai walked over, those who could see the shoulder straps of the few old non-commissioned officers behind him let out a collective "Damn," promptly stood up, and loudly said:
"Squad Leader, hello!!"
The senior squad leader, however, waved his hand: "Carry on with your event! We’re just here to look around!"
After speaking, he stood a few meters away, with several people gathered around him discussing how the competition venues had changed over the years.
Fang Huai also took the opportunity to enter the crowd.
Passing by Niu Lin, whom he had met at noon, Niu Lin, sitting on the ground, patted Fang Huai’s leg and chuckled:
"You really want to compete with our group? This afternoon, all our events are all about legs."
Fang Huai did not respond and went straight to Liu Shoulin’s side, beginning to select an available hose.
Liu Shoulin, with a lot on his mind, saw Fang Huai coming over and patted him, saying, "Good luck."
Fang Huai glanced at the few from the Guiyang Regiment and noticed the atmosphere wasn’t too good; he then smirked and said:
"Definitely! Squad Leader Liu!"
Advisor Jiang had already gone to the field responsible cadres to help him get a number.
"163, Fang Huai, report for the Hundred Meter Hurdles!"
"Okay, let him follow Group 6!"
Now, everyone was sure that Fang Huai was really there to stir things up.
Lian Xu, who was kneeling on the ground preparing the hose, also looked up at him and laughed:
"You’re here? The 12-meter rope climb and the horizontal bar this morning were well done."
Fang Huai was pleased.
He’d long heard that Lian Xu was a cultured man; indeed, even his insults were polite. freёwebnovel.com
Mentioning that the 12-meter rope climb and the horizontal bar were well done meant his hook ladder wasn’t up to par, right?
"Squad Leader Lian, your hook ladder performance was also just passable; the rest, though, still need some work."
As soon as he finished speaking,
the surrounding Liupanshui Regiment members went wild.
"Ay, Lian Xu’s hook ladder is just passable? He’s currently in first place!"
Niu Lin had tried to initiate conversation several times, but Fang Huai hadn’t paid any attention to him; now, somewhat angrily, he raised his voice and said:
"Fang Huai, didn’t you say at noon you were going to beat Lian Xu’s score? Why haven’t you responded to me?
It’s not so easy to beat, is it?
Hey, can you guys from the whole corps make a few extra attempts?"
Niu Lin indeed didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.
After he spoke, nobody dared to agree with him; they patted him and pointed to the several old squad leaders standing behind.
For God’s sake, you can talk about him, but once you bring up the whole corps, are you in a hurry to die?
The senior squad leader from behind also looked displeased, stepped forward, and spoke up in a not-so-friendly tone:
"Young comrade, that kind of talk isn’t conducive to unity."
Niu Lin finally realized he had spoken out of turn and, no matter how defiant he was, he didn’t dare to speak again.
Fang Huai, feigning nonchalance, said: "It’s not that fast; it was just 0.25 seconds faster than my first attempt—the difference isn’t big. I can catch up in one go if I’m in good shape. Squad Leader Lian, you’ll have to try harder."
Everyone around was stunned.
The Liupanshui guys were arrogant enough, having bragged since noon about taking first place in both individual and team events.
Lian Xu was nearly praised to the skies by them, and now they had stopped comparing him with Liu Shoulin, aiming to measure him against He Zhijun instead.
And now, Liu Huaqiang had arrived, grabbing the barrel of Liupanshui’s gun and challenging them if they dared to fire.
Arrogant indeed.
The Guiyang Regiment burst into laughter.
Suddenly, they realized that this young fellow’s lethal power extended not only internally but externally as well.
At least his lip service has never been defeated.
"Fang Huai, in this group, it’s all on you now!"
"That’s right, you’re always boasting in front of us, don’t chicken out now that you’re out here!"
The chatter of the Guiyang Regiment seemed to instantly come back to life.
At this moment, the externally gentle but internally competitive Lian Xu couldn’t help but speak up:
"Fang Huai, my best result is 14.17 seconds. Although today I’m only 0.25 seconds faster than you, if we were on the national stage, this tiny gap could leave several people in the dust."
"Exactly! How many seconds does the whole process take? A difference of 0.25, do you think that’s trivial? Many people have trained for years just to shave off a few tenths of a second!" People around started to chime in.
At these words, some of the older squad leaders were a bit confused:
"Fang Huai, he’s at 14.17, how could he be faster than you? Didn’t you just clock 13.87 on your last run? Did I hear wrong?"
"Yeah, you scared me! I thought I heard there were two people who hit the 13-second mark this year in the hook ladder! Hook ladders are tough to get under 14 seconds! Over the years, there haven’t been many from our whole corps who have achieved it!"
It grew silent then.
They looked at each other in disbelief.
Lian Xu’s complexion changed, as a mix of emotions churned within him; to describe it fancifully, it was as if his "martial heart" was in chaos.
He had made it to second place after a tough challenge, barely surpassing Fang Huai’s 14.73 seconds.
To his surprise, by noon, his record was broken again.
And 13.87 seconds was not as easy as the old squad leaders had made it sound. It was not just a tough time to beat; he had never seen such a result in all his time as a soldier!
The pressure was palpable, hitting him full force.
In this situation, Fang Huai, with an air of nonchalance amidst everyone’s astonishment, smiled apologetically at the few older squad leaders:
"Squad leader, I’m just playing with them. The first place for the hook ladder competition is now mine."
The older non-commissioned officers behind him also breathed a sigh of relief.
Damn, they thought the soldiers nowadays were so much better than in their time, that even 13.87 seconds was being taken for granted!
They too had been startled when they heard the referee call out 13.87 seconds, but they’d tried to maintain the facade that befits old squad leaders.
The faces of the few non-commissioned officers from the Guiyang Regiment began to show joy.
Did that mean, in all three events, Fang Huai was number one?
Plus, with Liu Shoulin’s absolute domain in load-bearing climbing, it seemed like their detachment could claim a little more than half the victories, right?
"Yeah, Fang Huai, have you tried the parallel bars? The highest score right now is Tao Dongdong’s, 97 in 3 minutes!" someone from the Guiyang Regiment reminded him.
Fang Huai frowned, "I’ve hardly ever done the parallel bars... Should I give it a try later? It shouldn’t be a big problem. I did 61 on the horizontal bar in just two or three minutes!"
Tao Dongdong, who was collecting water hoses, also started to feel unsteady and dared not listen to "this goods" any longer, fearing his spirits might be affected. He quickly inserted his water gun into his belt and walked off carrying a water hose.
"Referee, it’s my turn now, right?" frёewebηovel.cѳm
The Liupanshui Regiment followed suit, turning around to pack up their stuff and walk away, not wanting to stand next to Fang Huai.
This goods was toxic.
Fang Huai laughed inwardly at the situation.
He muttered "weaklings" under his breath.
Then he turned to Liu Shoulin with a smile, "Squad Leader Liu, if you can nail the hundred-meter dash, I’ve got everything else covered."
When it came to a pure hundred-meter dash, he was really no good. He had worked on improving his legs twice, and after those improvements, despite being prodded three times by Advisor Jiang at noon before the Martial Arts Competition, his fastest time was just 11.07 seconds.
He just couldn’t break 11 seconds.
Perhaps the problem was with his Achilles tendon.
This thing really involved some talent. Maybe with two more enhancements of his core strength and a little more agility and coordination, he could enter the top national ranks with times under 10.5 seconds.
National elite level, though, was out of reach.
Well, nobody’s perfect.
"Everything else is covered, except the hundred meters,"—what Fang Huai thought was somewhat helpless, struck Liu Shoulin like thunder.
Liu Shoulin pointed at the hurdles ahead, astonished:
"This, the Hundred Meter Hurdles, have you... learned it?"
What he really wanted to ask was "can you do it?"
But this fellow was truly abnormal, and his mouth was extremely offensive, so he chose not to provoke him.
Fang Huai also glanced at the hurdles ahead and nodded, with a tinge of melancholy on his face.
How could he have not learned it?
He damn near learned it to death!
Damn, in his previous life when he was testing for non-commissioned officer, he failed his physical twice because of this event and the four-hundred-meter supply evacuation. If it hadn’t been for this damn hurdle, he might have already become an officer!
Firefighting Hundred Meter Hurdles...
It’s not simple at all.
Like the hook ladder, it’s part of the World Championship events.
The process isn’t complicated:
Start running, jump over a two-meter hurdle.
Pick up two coils of hose laid behind the hurdle, rush over an 18-centimeter-wide single-plank bridge.
Off the bridge, throw down the hoses, while running connect the two coils together, then attach one end to the ground manifold and the other end to the water gun.
On the face of it, this event may seem very straightforward, and as long as it’s done within 40 seconds, you’ve got a valid time.
But Fang Huai, in his past life, saw many elite non-commissioned officers get zero because of mistakes in this event, making up at least 30% of the candidates.
The One Hundred Meters Ladder Attack Drill had a plank bridge half a meter wide and often caused people to fall off.
This bridge was just 18 centimeters.
During the run, you’d have to carry two hoses, overcome the swinging of the hoses, and it was not uncommon for people who fell off to twist an ankle.
Fang Huai had fallen and twisted his ankle twice in his past life, luckily, since he was running slowly and very carefully, his injuries weren’t severe.
But to achieve outstanding results, one had to overcome their innermost fears.
This time, he was here to challenge himself.
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