noffsinger Chapter 733: 7 Nights of Recommended Talents and New Soldiers' Meals
Chapter 733: 7 Nights of Recommended Talents and New Soldiers' Meals
Lu Baoyou's lungs were about to explode.
The ten-kilogram cast iron block pressed against my back, and the canvas bag rubbed my shoulder blades so hard that they hurt.
He gritted his teeth and counted his steps, glancing to the side every hundred meters—Lin Qiye was standing under the old sycamore tree in the equipment area.
The demon-slaying sword was stuck in the sand, and the cloud pattern on the scabbard was shining in the morning light.
Wu Hen, holding a piece of grass in his mouth, hugged his arm and looked at his watch. Seeing him stagger, he shouted, "Swing your arms! Swing your arms! Are you running or dancing?"
When the sign for the fifth kilometer came into view, Lu Baoyou's calves trembled.
He rushed towards the cafeteria door and bumped into the new recruits coming in and out. Someone scolded him for being blind.
He didn't care and stared at the steamer in the window, swallowing his saliva - the white meat buns were oozing with oil onto the steamer cloth.
"Boy, unload your bag first."
Wu Hen came up to him at some point and hooked his heel with his foot.
"Captain Lin said that this meal is a special supply, you have to go to the special kitchen to get it."
Lu Baoyou fumbled to open the canvas bag, and the cast iron block hit the ground with a clang.
He followed Wu Hen around to the back alley of the cafeteria and saw Lin Qiye leaning against a pile of coal while talking on the phone.
The cigarette was held between his fingers, and the sparks flickered.
"Old man Yuan, I just want to ask one question."
Lin Qiye flicked the ash onto the cement floor.
"You think that kid's story about the tentacle monster tickling in the dark room yesterday was just a funny story, right?"
He paused, then burst out laughing.
"Okay, you say he's like Ye Fan? That's even better—when Ye Fan joined the team, didn't you also say he was twisted like a thorn? What about now?"
Lu Baoyou shrank his neck and moved towards the wall, but his ears were perked up.
The voice on the other end of the phone was vague, and Lin Qiye said again:
"I'll take care of it for you. If he can't keep up with the physical fitness test in three days, Wu Hen and I will run 20 kilometers for him."
"Okay? Thanks, Old Yuan."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Qiye turned around and saw him, raised his eyebrows: "What are you in a daze? Wu Hen will take you to get breakfast."
"After eating, find the dormitory—it's on the second floor of Building 3, on the easternmost end. There's a note with 'Lu Baoyou' on the door."
"Then... my qualifications as a new recruit?" Lu Baoyou's Adam's apple moved.
Lin Qiye crushed his cigarette butt into the coal pile: "That old fox Yuan Gang is going to test you for three days."
"I'll run ten kilometers today, add weights tomorrow, and arm wrestle with Kong Shang from the Phoenix team the day after tomorrow."
"If you can break Kong's wrist, he will give you a title on the spot."
Wu Hen sneered from the side: "Kong Shang's arm is twice as thick as your thigh. Do you think he's breaking a fried dough stick?"
Lu Baoyou didn't respond, but stared at the crescent scar on the back of Lin Qiye's neck.
The scar was a pale pink, like a piece of melted candy.
He suddenly said, "Captain Lin, I can catch up with you."
Lin Qiye and Wu Hen were both stunned.
"What?" Wu Hen tilted his head.
"I mean,"
Lu Baoyou's ears turned red. "Today I ran five kilometers in seventeen and a half minutes. How many minutes did you run when you were a new soldier?"
Lin Qiye took out his second cigarette and the lighter clicked: "Sixteen cents."
"Then I'll run sixteen and a half minutes tomorrow."
Lu Baoyou turned and walked towards the cafeteria, throwing the canvas bag over his shoulder.
"Sixteen points the day after tomorrow. The day after tomorrow... the day after tomorrow I'll compete with you."
Wu Hen looked at his back and laughed: "This kid is really twisted and has a bad temper."
Lin Qiye said nothing, looking at the not-so-strong spine.
Suddenly I remembered myself 20 years ago - I also had my neck stiffened like this.
He carved four crooked characters "Catch up with Zhou Hong" on the sand, but Zhou Hong grabbed his collar and scolded him, saying, "You haven't even grown all your hair yet."
After lunch, Lu Baoyou found the dormitory.
The paper on the door lintel was blown up by the wind, and he pushed the door open.
I saw the bunk beds, the iron cabinets, and the training uniforms neatly arranged at the end of the bed.
There was a note under the pillow, written in Wu Hen's handwriting: "Don't touch the flower pot on the windowsill."
"That's the mint that Sister An grows. If it dies, she'll hang you from the beam."
He sat on the lower bunk and took out the wrinkled meat wrapper from his pocket - Wu Hen had stuffed it in his pocket that morning, saying it was "a double portion specially approved by Captain Lin."
There were still greasy spots on the paper ball. He squeezed it and suddenly heard a commotion in the corridor.
"You mean the tentacle monster?"
"Not so good! I was tied to a chair and that thing was limp."
"It's like soaked noodles, it's stuck in my ribs!"
"Forget it, my room is even more evil—two tentacles are pinching my shoulders."
"They were massaging my legs like they were working on an assembly line at a massage parlor. I was in so much pain I was crying, and they were purring!"
Lu Baoyou was carrying an enamel pot downstairs when she ran into three new recruits gathered around the sink.
The person who was speaking had a round face and a light scar on his left eyelid. When he saw him coming,
He nudged the person next to him: "Hey, you came in today too? What's your name?"
"Lu Baoyou."
"Su Zhe." The round-faced man handed over a wrinkled cigarette.
"Let me tell you, this little dark room in the Demon Suppression Division isn't for trying people, it's for trying monsters!"
"I was locked up yesterday. There were scratches all over the walls and the lights flickered."
"And here comes a ticklish tentacle monster—so it's even scarier than me?"
The tall recruit next to him rubbed the back of his neck and said, "My room is even more unique. 'Ye Fan was here' is engraved on the wall, and the words are still new!"
"I heard that Ye Fan is a veteran of the Night Team, and he blew up half of the monster cave back then—"
"Stop, stop!" Su Zhe waved his hands fiercely.
"We'll get hungry if we keep talking. Let's go eat!"
"The cafeteria has an old man on the night shift tonight. I feel sick looking at the food boxes being pushed in."
Something was definitely wrong in the cafeteria.
Aunt Wang, who usually cooks, was not there. She was replaced by an old man with a dark complexion.
Two instructors stood beside him, pushing a rusty dining cart.
There is a large aluminum basin on the dining car. When the lid is opened, the sour smell
"Boom!" It burst out—a basin of raw bloody meat, red with purple in it;
The other bowl contained gray fish cakes with a layer of sticky foam floating on the surface.
"Dinner is ready."
The old man spoke in dialect, "Two pieces of fish cakes per person, and half a pound of raw meat."
The new recruits all gathered around. Su Zhe stood on tiptoe to look at it. "Master, is this edible? Raw meat?"
"Why not?"
The old man rolled his eyes. "According to the rules of the Demon Suppression Division, new recruits are required to eat raw meat for the first three days. They say it's to strengthen their teeth."
"Back then, Captain Lin and his men ate furry rabbits!"
"But why does this fish cake smell so bad?" The tall recruit pinched his nose.
The old man picked up the iron spoon and knocked on the edge of the basin: "That's called bad fish cake!"
"It's made from the entrails of demon beasts. Eating it can stimulate your spiritual senses. Don't like the taste? If you do, don't be a demon slayer!"
Lu Baoyou was holding a piece of fish cake, with ash as big as a fingernail stuck to the surface.
He looked up and saw An Qingyu coming in from the cafeteria door, his black leather boots making the floor tiles clatter.
Cao Yuan followed her, the muscles in his arms tensed like iron lumps.
Staring at the chattering recruits, his hands were already on the edge of the table.
"eat."
An Qingyu's voice is like ice chips.
"Don't want to eat? Fine, now pack your bedding and get out."
Su Zhe secretly nudged Lu Baoyou: "You said... this thing is really edible?"
Lu Baoyou looked at the fish cake in her hand and suddenly remembered the scar on the back of Lin Qiye's neck.
He gritted his teeth and stuffed the fish cake into his mouth - the sour, fishy, and rusty taste went straight to the top of his head.
There was a "puff" sound from the side, and the tall recruit vomited.
Cao Yuan slammed his palm down on the table, causing the enamel pot to jump. "Spit it out? Even if you spit it out, you have to swallow it!"
Lu Baoyou chewed the fish cake and stared at the silver bells on An Qingyu's waist - he had seen that string of bells on the training ground.
Lin Qiye said that it was the Night Team’s magic weapon.
He suddenly felt that this sour smell was like a threshold.
Step over it and you can touch something real.
The commotion in the cafeteria continued. An Qingyu's silver bell was ringing softly in the draft, and Cao Yuan's slap left a red mark on the table.
Lu Baoyou bit into the raw meat and heard the sweat on the back of his neck dripping down his collar - this was probably what Lin Qiye said, the feeling of being sharpened into a knife.
The incandescent lights in the cafeteria buzzed overhead, making the raw meat in the aluminum basin look bluish-gray.
An Qingyu's silver bell rang softly as she walked, and each sound seemed to strike at the recruits' tense nerves.
The fish cake in Su Zhe's hand was squeezed dry, and sticky gray foam oozed out from between his fingers.
He stole a glance at Lu Baoyou—the boy was biting some raw meat, his Adam's apple rolling up and down, his cheeks bulging as if he was holding a piece of iron.
"When I joined the team, we ate freshly skinned red marten."
Cao Yuan suddenly spoke, the muscles on his arms tensed like iron knots under his short sleeves.
"That thing is still hot from the blood, and the hair hasn't been shaved clean."
"The old captain said that a demon slayer must have teeth strong enough to gnaw monster bones and a stomach strong enough to digest monster elixirs and poison sacs."
"You think it's fishy now? When the demon blood splashes into your mouth one day, you won't be able to cry without knowing how to sing."
The tall recruit wiped his mouth, where some fish cake crumbs were still stained. "But can this fish cake really stimulate spiritual perception?"
"What is spiritual perception?"
Su Zhe, with a round face, scratched his head. "Can I see monsters? Or can I hear them talking?"
An Qingyu stopped, the tip of his black leather boots rolling over the rice grains on the ground: "Spiritual perception is the life of the demon slayer."
She raised her eyelids and glanced at everyone.
"The demonic aura of the demonic beast is poisonous. If someone with weak spiritual senses smells it too much, they will go crazy.
"Those with strong spiritual perception can follow the demonic aura into the demon's lair—just like a dog can smell meat, you must be able to smell the demon."
She paused, "This fish cake is made with the viscera of the Mirror Lake fish monster."
"That thing is the best at hiding. It wreaked havoc on three counties back then. It took the Night Squad to strip it of its scales before it could find its lair."
"Eating its meat is to make your nose remember this smell."
The recruits looked at each other in bewilderment.
As Lu Baoyou chewed the raw meat, he suddenly tasted a sweet aftertaste - like wild honey mixed with rust.
He remembered the crescent scar on Lin Qiye's neck that morning. That scar was also like this.
It looks soft, but it feels hard and uncomfortable to touch.
"Raise your hands if you can't eat." An Qingyu's voice turned cold.
"If I quit now, I can still leave it intact."
"Once you're on the battlefield, the monsters won't ask you if you're used to the food."
No one raised their hands.
Su Zhe stuffed the last half of the fish cake into his mouth. His Adam's apple rolled violently and he suddenly started to retch.
Cao Yuan slapped him on the back with a loud bang.
He was so shocked that he almost bit his tongue: "Swallow it! The demon pill is ten times more disgusting than this. Can you spit it out in front of the demon?"
Su Zhe swallowed back the sour water with tears in his eyes, leaned his forehead against the edge of the table and gasped for breath.
The veins on the tall recruit's hand bulged as he held the lunch box.
The raw meat was squeezed into a bloody ball between his fingers. "My dad said that being a demon slayer would bring honor to the family..."
He suddenly laughed, "Now I know that to bring honor to your family, you must first learn to eat shit."
Lu Baoyou swallowed the last bite of raw meat, and her stomach felt like it was on fire.
He stared at the silver bell on An Qingyu's waist.
The string of bells suddenly trembled slightly - not because of the wind, but because An Qingyu's fingers touched it.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he heard a buzzing sound in his ears, as if someone was banging on a copper basin far away.
"Eat it all."
An Qingyu turned and walked towards the door, the silver bells jingling in the twilight.
"Gather at the playground at five o'clock tomorrow morning."
"If you can't run, spit out today's meal and lick it clean yourself."
Cao Yuan followed her out and paused when he reached Lu Baoyou: "You have a tough stomach, kid."
He patted Lu Baoyou's shoulder with such force that it was like hitting a rammer.
"Captain Lin was also able to sustain himself like this when he ate the Red Flame Marten."
The cafeteria gradually became quiet.
The recruits were either lying or sitting, some rubbing their stomachs, and some staring at their empty lunch boxes in a daze.
Su Zhe took out a wrinkled cigarette from his pocket, lit it and took a deep puff.
Choking and coughing, "Baoyou, do you think... I tasted something different in that fish cake just now?"
"What's that smell?" the tall recruit asked weakly.
"Like... like jasmine."
Su Zhe frowned, "But isn't the Mirror Lake Fish Monster in the water? Where did the jasmine come from?"
Lu Baoyou didn't say anything.
He touched the sweat on the back of his neck, the sound of the copper basin still lingering in his ears.
He remembered what Lin Qiye said about "the feeling of being sharpened into a knife".
Suddenly I felt the fire in my stomach rushing down, burning the soles of my feet - as if something was climbing up through my blood vessels.
The twilight outside the window came in, stretching the shadow of the enamel pot very long.
Someone's lunch box fell to the ground with a clang, making a piercing sound in the quiet cafeteria.
Lu Baoyou bent down to pick it up, and when he looked up, he saw An Qingyu's mint on the windowsill swaying in the wind.
There were a few water droplets on the leaves - like someone's tears, or like... some kind of shiny mucus.