After Being Reborn, I became a firefighter again?

Chapter 305: Chapter 241: Report, he should be counted as parallel bars!

"Come on!"

The crowd below started to cheer loudly once they saw Wang Peng slowing down.

Truth be told, Wang Peng’s horizontal bar skills were a bit worse than everyone had imagined.

Because his performance on push-ups the night before was too strong.

New recruits from the Second Squadron, apart from the Evening Exercise after lights out, seldom did push-ups, and in this regard, they fell far behind Wang Peng’s performance the previous night.

In Wang Peng’s original squadron, push-ups were the main way for new recruits to build arm strength. Every morning, after morning exercises with chin-ups, they had to keep doing push-ups on the stairs in front of the cafeteria until mealtime.

Including at noon and in the afternoon, the old soldiers would do push-ups on the same steps in front of the cafeteria during their Bragging time right before meals.

"...Thirty-two!"

"Come on! Hit thirty-five!"

Zhang Tianwang didn’t think poorly of Wang Peng, he shouted with excitement.

His original squadron didn’t even have one new recruit who could do twenty.

"Thirty... three! Does that count? He didn’t clear the bar!" Han Yong questioned.

Fang Huai glanced at Wang Peng, whose face had turned red from holding his breath, shook his head, and shouted, "Go a bit higher! Make this one count!"

Wang Peng let out a deep breath and raised his chin a bit higher again.

"Alright, thirty-three cleared! Come down, this isn’t training, no need to keep struggling!"

Fang Huai said as he noted the numbers in the training log.

However, Wang Peng, feeling provoked by Fang Huai’s dismissive attitude, persisted on the bar and roared,

"I can still... do it!"

Fang Huai looked up at him and nodded, "Alright, then keep going."

Wang Peng struggled for a long time, but didn’t manage another one.

"Thirty-three," Fang Huai simply looked back at the training log and repeated the score.

Zhang Tianwang seemed somewhat disappointed as he said, "If you hadn’t held that last one so long, you could have reached the Provincial Special Duty Team’s old soldiers’ excellent standard easily!"

Zhang Tianwang was so confident because before coming here, a big team leader told him that the Provincial Special Duty Team’s physical fitness benchmarks for the horizontal bar are thirty-five for excellence, twenty-five for passing.

Plus a five-kilometer run, twenty-one minutes to pass, nineteen and a half for excellence.

These standards were indeed high, but he was close to the line of excellence.

Moreover, from what he observed, with this kind of training, it’s virtually impossible for many to achieve excellence.

But the surrounding old soldiers all gave him a strange look upon hearing this.

Excellent standards?

It sounded like a vague and distant term now; the current Second Squadron only had advancement standards.

The old special duty used to believe "old soldiers can slack off usually, but must perform when it’s crunch time."

Now it’s different. It’s not only about "showing up," but they damn well have to "show up" every day.

But no one responded to Zhang Tianwang since he had been too talkative that day.

Everyone merely praised Wang Peng, saying, "Good job! Thirty-three! Song Lin, come on, beat him!"

Upon hearing that, Wang Peng fixed his eyes on Song Lin.

Why? Why did everyone think that Song Lin, who liked to shirk and play tricks, could beat him?

Zhang Tianwang, hearing this, looked around with a trace of dissatisfaction in his eyes.

New recruits, with such high scores, why are you all acting so indifferent? Don’t you usually love shouting and cheering?!

Moreover... Song Lin surpassing him?

What about Fang Huai? Can’t he beat Wang Peng?

Fang Huai glanced over at Zhang Tianwang:

"Next up, Zhang Tianwang."

Zhang Tianwang didn’t reply with "Here," and walked straight to the bar.

But Fang Huai insisted, "Go back, reply, and come out again!"

Zhang Tianwang looked incredulously at Fang Huai.

Although Fang Huai had joked and played with the old soldiers in the last two days, irritating Zhang Tianwang, he hadn’t been bold or reckless enough to provoke him directly.

Had he consumed some kind of boldness today?

The other old soldiers seemed to enjoy the drama unfolding.

Below, Wang Peng was even more shocked.

He dared to talk back to Squad Leader Zhang, who had been in service for seven years!

Zhang Tianwang had his hands behind his back: "You, why should I go back? I don’t think you’re fit to be a..."

Fang Huai, though, couldn’t be bothered to argue and gestured dismissively to cut him off.

He still had to record four people’s strength indicators that day, there was plenty to do, and he immediately pointed out Zhang Tianwang’s issues:

"You are the model we praised this morning in our squad, the one everyone should learn from. Now, this is a test assessment for the four of you, not a regular training session!

Everyone is spending their training time to accompany your assessment.

Yet, you keep talking in the ranks and don’t follow the standard commands. What, in your eyes, is internal affairs discipline everything, and formation discipline means nothing?

Please show respect for assessment discipline! Go back!"

Zhang Tianwang’s heartbeat soared to 160, his breathing tightening.

Below, Cao Yi, who had been unruly the previous couple of days, now reproached loudly and seriously:

"Zhang Tianwang, the duty squad leader told you to go back, so go back! What are you dragging your feet for? Do you think you’re special?"

The three newcomers, not to mention Wang Peng, even Zhou Tiannu and Qin Hongjun were somewhat shaken.

Things had changed; the Second Squadron was different.

Last weekend, they were all amiable, actively joking with the new recruits, but beginning with today’s Internal Affairs Inspection, they stopped talking much.

Once on the training field, the atmosphere became even more serious. The Instructor kept a stern face, occasionally glancing at everyone, not allowing any chatter, and the previously harmless-looking Squad Leader was now utterly serious.

Zhang Tianwang, whose brows were already knitted, furrowed them deeper as he stepped down, protesting loudly:

"You spoil new recruits like this, and sooner or later, it will cause major problems!"

The old soldiers below inwardly scoffed.

Spoiling them? You know too little about the Special Duty.

This is a place where strength speaks.

Just wait and see if this living devil spoils you or not.

"Zhang Tianwang!"

Fang Huai called out his name once Zhang Tianwang had rejoined the ranks.

"Here!!" Zhang Tianwang’s reply boomed, as if trying to burst Fang Huai’s eardrums.

But the people around dodged to the sides, frowning.

This guy is sick, seriously sick.

Fang Huai, however, smiled with satisfaction, saying, "Step out!"

Zhang Tianwang took a step back, running out to the horizontal bar with standard moves, planting a foot, turning around, and planting the other foot.

Snap, snap!

It was quite the commotion.

Fang Huai nodded his head, indicating his satisfaction, as if Zhang Tianwang’s movements were not challenging him but performing just for him.

"Calm down and pull yourself together!"

His tone was one of condescension.

Zhang Tianwang felt his blood boil upon hearing this. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Talking about keeping calm was out of the question; he felt if Fang Huai spoke another few words, he could die on the spot.

"Fine!" Zhang Tianwang snapped.

Fang Huai seemed very calm, merely looking up at the bar, "Begin."

Wiping his hands, Zhang Tianwang jumped onto the bar, gripping tightly to his dignity.

"One, two, three..."

Counting at the bar, Han Yong continued his listless cadence.

Actually, Han Yong wasn’t doing it on purpose.

With just under thirty people from the Special Duty Team participating in training, every time for the pull-up bar, Fang Huai had him count to irritate him.

And now, the Special Duty Team was pulling up with increasing vigor.

Apart from improved training, everyone had tacitly agreed to give it their all in this exercise to earn everyone some rest time.

Pull-ups are great.

One person pulls, twenty or thirty watch, time drags on, averaging over four minutes each, and two hours pass in a round.

Apart from them, the new recruits, the low ones do thirty-something, the high ones—He Zhijun and Fang Huai—competing with each other, pulling sixty or seventy.

One round of pull-ups requires counting over a thousand times, for one or two hours.

If Han Yong doesn’t save some energy to shout, he’ll need water to soothe his throat afterward.

Now the mere mention of the pull-up bars makes Han Yong gnash his teeth.

It also makes his throat itch.

But Zhang Tianwang on the bar looks down with the utmost disgust at the two new recruits below.

One, annoying him, the other, the same.

Han Yong’s voice is feeble as if he thinks he’s not up to it.

Even when he pulled up with all his might, Han Yong’s voice just became a bit quicker.

Zhang Tianwang’s rhythm was disrupted by inner demons, speeding up, then slowing down, and after only 31 reps, he couldn’t hold on any longer.

Han Yong’s voice remained soft and faint:

"Thirty... one."

Zhang Tianwang let his body down and struggled on.

"Thirty... Fang Huai, if the arms come down halfway and then pull up, that shouldn’t count, right?"

"Mmm, it doesn’t."

The conversation between the two below the bar tormented him immensely.

As he came down, he frowned and shouted at Han Yong:

"I told you to shout louder, didn’t you hear? I normally can do thirty-three or thirty-four, but your counting made my stomach hurt! *Belch*, I!"

He was about to kick Han Yong.

"Zhang Tianwang, get down quickly when you’re done!" Fang Huai’s voice came from behind.

"Smack."

Zhang Tianwang pretended not to hear and still kicked Han Yong.

Everyone inwardly clicked their tongues.

Damn, you dare to kick the Corps Captain’s kid?

Fang Huai was seething with anger.

When he was demoted, Fang Huai had assured Han Yong that he wouldn’t get beaten up for no reason.

Fang Huai hesitated about whether to get angry.

Yet Han Yong said nothing and stepped aside.

Back then Pan Zhaohui hit him much harder, and Hao Chengbin had also kicked him numerous times without him thinking much of it.

But.

That was his squad leader.

And he had made mistakes at that time.

Comrade Han held back his pent-up anger, silently waiting for an opportunity to vent.

Zhang Tianwang, still complaining non-stop, walked down.

But then Fang Huai’s voice followed, "Is doing thirty-three reps a lot? *Cough*, the old soldiers should do at least 35 today, don’t let the newcomers look down on us."

Zhang Tianwang stopped, turned, and glanced at Fang Huai.

What are you babbling about? Everyone in the Special Duty Team can reach excellence?!

The others, however, laughed and rubbed their hands together in anticipation.

Before, it was Fang Huai who tortured them, today, it was their turn to get Zhang Tianwang.

Huang Yong raised his hand and shouted, "I’ll go first!"

Fang Huai smiled, "There are two newcomers as well."

Zhou Tiannu and Qin Hongjun felt a chill down their spine as everyone watched them.

...

"Zhou Tiannu, 36!"

"Qin Hongjun, 34!"

"Huang Yong, 52!"

"Zhao Jinchen, 39!"

"Zhang Yang, 39!"

"Liu Jianfeng, 38!"

"Sun Jingwu, 35!"

"Kong Xiangzhong, 40!"

"Hao Chengbin, 40!"

...

Fang Huai kept calling out everyone’s names and scores.

Except for Chen Zhenghai, who achieved only 16 reps, none of the old soldiers scored below 35.

Cao Yi also explained on behalf of Chen Zhenghai:

"Comrade Chen Zhenghai has had allergic diseases in the past and took glucocorticoids, which led to obesity. He has special reasons, and he is a special vehicle driver, so he is not included in the general assessment standards!"

Nobody said anything.

The strength of Chen Zhenghai is something few in this squadron could match—only a count on three fingers.

In wrestling and boxing, he’s an expert.

Zhang Tianwang’s face turned from black to green as his confidence crumbled with each repetition.

He began to look for a glimmer of hope amid an apocalypse, continually assessing each person getting on the bar’s physique and age, wondering if they might do fewer reps than him.

He started confidently, but each time, he was wrong.

The only one who could have saved him, Squad Leader Fang, was on leave due to family matters, not yet returned.

He became the one that the Special Duty Team looked down upon, falling outside of the physical red line.

Wang Peng was also bewildered.

In the squadron, he was second in pull-ups, having conquered the old soldiers as well.

Here, however, he had only conquered the man he respected, Zhang Tianwang.

"Song Lin, 31! Gotta work harder, brother."

"Xiao Haishan, 22."

When it was finally Han Yong’s turn, he also managed 16 reps.

After coming down, Han Yong excitedly ran over to Fang Huai to confirm everyone’s scores, then shouted:

"Report! Squad Leader Zhang Tianwang is the lowest among the old soldiers, right? He should go count the parallel bars!"

"Pfft..."

Everyone unethically laughed for two seconds.

Fang Huai also looked at Zhang Tianwang, sighed deeply, and said earnestly without any hint of mockery:

"Squad Leader Zhang... you really need to do some extra training starting tonight, the Special Duty Squad will train together."

The faces of the Special Duty Squad fell immediately.