After Being Reborn, I became a firefighter again?

Chapter 293: Chapter 232: The Leader’s Intentions

The Squadron Department didn’t even call for a meeting.

Everyone could have gotten to know each other, and take the opportunity to introduce a certain someone’s outstanding achievements, so that those two old soldiers would be utterly convinced and bow down in adoration.

Hao Chengbin, that old sly guy, seems to want to challenge me.

Thinking as such, Fang Huai strolled over to Squad Three.

To tell the truth, there was a bit of a show-off element to it.

Gotta strut one’s stuff, right?

Establishing a good big brother image in front of same-year soldiers is rather important after all.

In the army, no matter how good your personal relationships are, the term "same year soldiers" will always occupy a certain social circle.

If you’re not from the same year, either you have to call me squad leader or I have to call you squad leader; even Fang Huai couldn’t just laugh and curse freely.

Act too arrogant, and people will think you don’t respect others.

This was also the reason he liked Little Black; Little Black was an exception. From the day he joined the squad, Little Black never put on any squad leader airs in front of him, but acted more like a little brother.

So, same year soldiers are special and the easiest to get close to. Of course, because of the equality, there are also many fights and quarrels.

But if you manage to be collectively ostracized by same-year soldiers, that’s kind of like a social floor tile.

"Hey, Fang Huai, you’re here! This is Wang Peng, from the Tongren Brigade!"

The moment Han Yong saw Fang Huai, he immediately pulled him into the squad to do introductions.

There was no one else in the squad. Today was Saturday, no other duties, so it was a day off.

As soon as they arrived, they all went upstairs to play Dota.

No, nowadays they dignify it as "preparing for the Special Service Cup."

Squad Leader Fang of Squad Three, after welcoming the newcomer, didn’t even go upstairs himself. He said his daughter had a birthday, so he hastily hailed a cab and whisked away from the squadron.

Deputy Squad Leader Hu Hongzhi, in order to catch up on some sleep, and being someone who could trade shifts with Fang Huai to trick newcomers, had a sense of responsibility as a squad leader that could only be seen under a microscope with a drop of saline, wouldn’t care whether a new recruit was familiar with the squadron or not.

On weekdays, the old soldiers trained hard, but come the weekend, they’d each show their quirky sides.

"Ah, folding the blanket?" Fang Huai saw no one around, so he became more casual and strode directly into Squad Three, pouring himself a cup of water.

Inside, Wang Peng hesitated but, seeing Fang Huai didn’t quite act like a new recruit and remembering the instructor didn’t call out to him when summoning new recruits, stood up and said:

"Good day, squad leader!"

"Cough!" Fang Huai choked on his water.

"Uh, I’m not a squad leader, no, I am a squad leader, but not of your squad. Your squad leader is Squad Leader Fang, I am Fang..."

It was a mess.

The same-year soldiers all laughed.

"He is Fang Huai, one of our same-year soldiers, squad leader of Squad Four, Special Duty Squad, from next door," Han Yong clarified for him.

"Special Duty Squad leader?" Wang Peng was surprised.

"Yeah, Fang Huai is the most awesome new recruit in our whole province," Han Yong said proudly, patting Fang Huai’s shoulder.

Wang Peng still didn’t quite get it: "A new recruit is awesome... and that makes him squad leader?"

Song Lin chimed in: "That depends on how awesome you are; Director Fang is truly outstanding."

Just then, Fang Huai noticed a flash of disappointment in Wang Peng’s eyes.

"Oh... hi, I’m Wang Peng," Wang Peng said and then bent down to continue folding his blanket.

Fang Huai watched his technique and the more he watched, the more astonished he became.

The other same-year soldiers noticed it too.

"Wow, Wang Peng, your blanket is so neatly folded!"

Fang Huai didn’t speak, he simply left the squad.

Back at his squad, those two guys had all their clothes neatly organized in the wardrobe in just that little bit of time, and they were also tidying up their blankets.

He then checked on Qin Hongjun in Squad Two, pretty much the same.

As soon as their blankets came out, they looked as though they’d been flattened by a freaking steamroller.

Without Squad Leader Xiong, the only model soldier they had to show off, the blankets next to it looked miserable by comparison.

Not even a new recruit could be beaten.

The Special Duty Team focused too much on training; when was the last Internal Affairs Inspection...?

?

Searching memory.

Search results: Empty.

!!

Damn it, DJ style! Since I joined the Special Duty Team, there hasn’t been a single Internal Affairs Inspection?!

Even Model Squad Leader Hao Chengbin started getting used to only doing a quick tidy up when a leader was coming, after his arrival.

And when Detachment leaders visited the squadron, they never looked at the blankets.

That’s not right.

There was one time.

Fang Huai’s genius brain instantly remembered Old Zhang’s very first visit to the squadron, how he sneakily lingered in front of every squad.

He was chuckling at the time.

It was subtly shady, like an old man doing tai chi.

This transfer might have been his doing.

Having thought it through, Fang Huai sternly put his hands behind his back and headed to the Squadron Department.

"Ding-dong."

"Reporting."

The door was open, curtains drawn, the office dimly lit; Cao Yi was watching Lin Zhengying on an internet-enabled computer.

Laughing his head off.

Hearing the sound, he glanced up at Fang Huai, then continued watching the screen, smile unabated.

"What’s up? You done with your Dota training?"

"Too noob, can’t carry the team," Fang Huai walked closer, pulled up a chair, and sat beside Cao Yi; on the computer, Uncle Lin was dressed in a tuxedo.

"Uncle Lin, long time no see."

"Lian Mei, how are you?"

"Don’t be like that."

"I’m fine, Lian Mei, congratulations on becoming a mother."

Fang Huai: (-.-)

"That woman next to her is controlled by an evil spirit. The general got sick because he was bitten by his deceased father, and Lin Zhengying shat on the general’s grave site, causing zombies to pop out on both sides, all killed by him."

Fang Huai spoiled the plot with precision, and then stood up, anticipating a possible hit.

Who would have known, Cao Yi chuckled with composure, paused the movie, and said, "Heh, I’ve watched this movie four times already. If you want to watch it, sit quietly and do so. If there’s something you want to say, speak up!"

Fang Huai: ...

"About those new guys who just arrived, did old teacher He tell you anything? Do they have any special skills?"

After pondering for a moment, Cao Yi replied, "The instructor said they have relatively strong overall qualities."

Only then did Fang Huai nod, "That’s correct, their overall qualities are indeed stronger than every person in our squadron."

"Oh?" Cao Yi exclaimed in surprise, "You could tell that just after they arrived?"

Fang Huai grinned crookedly, "Heh, the four big aspects of being a soldier: physical fitness, skills, drills, and internal affairs—what do you think our squadron’s weakest point is?"

"Drills?" Cao Yi blurted out.

Those words left Fang Huai feeling numb.

Drills too?!

It suddenly struck him that it had been more than two months since they had done any drills.

"...Forget it, Instructor Cao, come with me to the squad room and take a look."

...

Three minutes later, the two of them arrived at the Special Duty Squad.

Zhou Tiannu was nowhere to be seen.

Zhang Tianwang was looking at the scenery from the window. When he saw Cao Yi enter, he nodded faintly. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

He felt some dissatisfaction in his heart about the squadron’s decision to appoint new recruits as squad leaders, considering it a bit absurd.

Cao Yi also responded with a somewhat cool nod.

But looking at the neatly folded blankets of others compared to the messy blankets of the original squadron members, he fell into deep contemplation.

For a long while.

Cao Yi pointed at Fang Huai’s blanket and asked, "Why is your blanket so ugly?"

Fang Huai’s pupils shook.

Damn.

"Mine used to be the model blanket of the new recruit group! It’s only ugly when compared to Squad Leader Zhou’s, right? Instructor Cao, are you perhaps short-sighted? If mine’s ugly, then what about the ones next to it?"

Fang Huai’s hand swept towards Chen Zhenghai and Wu Di’s beds.

Upon hearing Fang Huai speak to Cao Yi in such a manner, Zhang Tianwang’s respect for Cao Yi, the higher-up, diminished further.

Cao Yi simply nodded and said:

"How do you want to address it?"

"How else can it be addressed?" Fang Huai replied exasperatedly:

"Blow the whistle! Assemble! Standardize internal affairs to establish a norm! Conduct internal affairs inspections at irregular intervals in the future. Those with ugly blankets, go pick them up downstairs!

The leadership brought in all internal affairs model soldiers, isn’t that getting right to the point? It’s as if they’re saying our squadron only knows how to train!"

At the end of this statement.

Zhang Tianwang felt even more discontent:

"I don’t know about the others, but I wasn’t transferred here because of internal affairs. At the Southeastern Guizhou Division, I only got to transfer here after undergoing strict physical tests.

In our division, I was fairly strong in physical fitness and operational skills, and the Provincial Special Duty Team wanted me several times, but I didn’t go."

He said this with his chest puffed out and a defiant attitude.

From the brief observation he had made, he felt that the Provincial Special Duty Team was much worse than he had imagined.

Both Cao Yi and Fang Huai chose to ignore this remark.

"Alright, you bring this up during the afternoon assembly. Everyone has been worn out by training this week, so we’ll implement this tomorrow morning. Give them a chance to tidy up properly."

Fang Huai nodded as well.

That week, from Monday to Thursday, were all days of extreme training.

Three runs up General Hill, two gym sessions, three tire trainings, nightly runs around the small city, and mandatory parallel bars exercise just before dinner.

Ever since Cao Yi received the news that Second Squadron would start transferring people, he was overwhelmed with a sense of crisis and almost wanted to train everyone to the point of eating with their hands, unable to even hold chopsticks steady.

On Thursday, in the middle of the night, a rural fire alarm went off, and on Friday, they had a daylong event at the big vehicle lot, washing all the vehicles and cleaning all the equipment.

Not to mention anyone else, even Fang Huai was pretty tired.

Now, the training regime of Second Squadron aimed to exhaust everyone. Since he had better physical condition, he had to do even more than the others. He had to arrive several minutes earlier than anyone else during small city runs—failing to do so, he had to do additional training.

After such a tough week, finally reaching the long-awaited Saturday, calling everyone to tidy their blankets and do internal affairs might lead to a mutiny.

Zhang Tianwang, who was standing nearby listening, now thought even less of this Special Duty Team.

Which squadron wasn’t running a week-long training? If they thought internal affairs were important, why dally?

The management here was even less strict than his previous county squadron! freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Fang Huai was unaware of the internal drama, but now that he had received Old Cao’s authorization and achieved his goal, he turned with a smile:

"Squad Leader Zhang, where did Squad Leader Zhou go? Come on, let me show you around the squadron environment."

Zhang Tianwang shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window before shaking his head. "No need, that’s the garage below, right? Little Zhou has already gone down to take a look. I’ll go down and check it out myself in a bit. I should be more familiar with the equipment than you are.

"Isn’t everyone resting in the squad room on Saturday?"

Fang Huai raised an eyebrow.

You know the equipment better than me? Are you so sure? Even the Equipment Technician Chen Gong wouldn’t dare to make such a claim, would he?

But he still replied, "On Saturdays, the third floor is open—they’re upstairs playing computer games. We have a lot of computers in our squadron; do you want to play? I can take you up."

Zhang Tianwang shook his head, "That stuff is for kids; I don’t play. Usually, at our squadron, I just watch TV."

After saying this, he picked up the kettle in the water, opened it, took a breath and drank a few sips, gulping audibly.

He certainly carried himself like an old cadre.

Cao Yi couldn’t help but smile.

With a beard around his chin and such behavior, Zhang Tianwang, though only in his seventh year, looked even older than the Logistics Officer.

Fang Huai didn’t insist anymore, as everyone has their own preferences, to each their own.

"Instructor Cao, I’ll go upstairs and join them in playing the games then," Fang Huai said.

"Mhm."

At this point, Zhang Tianwang spoke up again:

"Instructor, does the new recruits of Special Service Squadron 2 not do additional training on Saturdays?

In our squadron, we usually train until Saturday. I’m not quite used to this.

If everyone’s resting and no one’s leading the new recruits, I can take them out for a run and get familiarized with the surrounding environment."

After speaking, he glanced at Fang Huai.