by A Sick Frog
Another guy elbowed Chi Qu Qi, amused, saying: “I’m Tian Xue Qin. You don’t need to mind this wonky starry-eyed guy, he flirts with every female he sees.”
Chi Qu Qi shoved Dian Xue Qin in melancholy, arguing in discontent: “Aye aye, what are you saying? When did I flirt with every female I see? I someone who has a lot of principles, I only flirt with beautiful females!” As he said, he started sorting things out with Tian Xue Qin with his actions.
Li Jian Zhong facepalmed and said to Qin Ke Xuan: “They’ll always be like this when the two of them stay together, you don’t need to mind them. This warehouse is a site especially for us to use. The dormitories are the two rooms over there, one for females, one for males. The one there is our lounge, the rest of the rooms are for the different activities and training. It’s a little like the backdrop in CS*, have you played CS* before?”
* CS = counter strike; a multiplayer first-person shooter online video game
“No.” Qin Ke Xuan sized up the surroundings. This warehouse was remodelled into different rooms of large and small sizes. There were some that were stocked with all sorts of equipment, and some others that just had a bumpy wall that was probably for people to scale. So they use all these weird kinds of methods to train? She believed it would be more straightforward and fast to just fight and kill.
Chi Qu Qi followed over, asking Qin Ke Xuan cheekily: “The newcomer babe, even though you don’t look very strong, you managed to dodge my attack which even the squad leader could not dodge, that’s pretty sick. Wanna play a shooting game with me?”
The squad leader knocked his head sternly. “Don’t think I don’t know you’re looking for someone to be a target. Let me warn you, don’t bully newcomers.”
“Squad Leader! The person wouldn’t be in our unit if she didn’t have her own move or two right? Didn’t she miss a lot of training, I’m just helping turn on a private oven* for her, promise you it’ll be like she hitched a ride on the Shenzhou Seven* Eight Nine and catch up with everyone!” Chi Qu Qi patted his chest making a solemn vow.
* 开小灶 = (lit.) turn on private oven, (fig.) give someone special attention
* 神七八九 = shen 7 8 9; referring to Shenzhou 7 (the spacecraft in the Chinese space program launched in 2008) and Shenzhou 8 (launched in 2011) and Shenzhou 9 (launched in 2012).
“Squad leader, don’t worry about him. He’s dreaming about being a godly shooter every day to the extent he’s catching us all to be his shooting target. The newcomer will end up being pulled to be his target sooner or later. In my opinion, we should let this newcomer set him back a little!”
The squad leader turned his head and asked for Qin Ke Xuan’s opinion, “Qin Ke Xuan, what do you think? Have you used a gun before, want to try it?”
Qin Ke Xuan felt that there was nothing to do anyway. Besides, she wanted to learn how to use those guns anyway, and so she nodded her head. At the same time, she took out the gun she had snatched from Zhou Lin’s people from her pocket. “Can do.”
“You’re bringing around a gun? … Fuck! That’s a real gun! Where did you steal that from? And a loaded gun at that, hold that properly don’t point that at me!” Chi Qu Qi stared at the gun in Qin Ke Xuan’s hands, making a big fuss. “Looks like there’s a lot for you to learn. You actually dare to bring around a loaded gun, you should be thankful the gun didn’t accidentally fire.”
The squad leader took over her gun and opened the magazine. Upon seeing the fully loaded bullets, he couldn’t help but feel his head throbbing. This newcomer was another troublemaker. “Where did you get this gun?”
“I picked it up on the road.” Qin Ke Xuan said calmly.
Who the heck would believe that!
Qin Ke Xuan had no intentions of broaching this topic with them. She looked at Chi Qu Qi. “Still shooting?”
“Of course! But since you’re a newcomer, let’s not play the real stuff first, how about 100m moving target shooting?”
Tian Xue Qing snorted: “Hoho, scared you’ll accidentally die in her hands after seeing this xiao mei mei is someone who has used a real gun before?”
“What you talkin’! This is me letting the rookie a little!”
The other female in their squad who had gone to collect Qin Ke Xuan’s uniform came back just at this time. Qin Ke Xuan changed into the camouflage clothing similar to theirs. But once she stood before them, they laughed. She was currently at the Lolita age stage, her figure was also very Lolita-esque. The uniform she had on was a size too large so it was baggy.
“Qin Ke Xuan, sorry, I didn’t know your frame was so… exquisite, so I had collected the uniform based on my height, I’ll change it for you later.” The girl who had collected the uniform apologised.
Chi Qu Qi was beyond amused, and laughed: “Qin Ke Xuan, how tall are you? Are you sure you have reached the Special Forces requirement? In my opinion, it’d be useless even if you change her uniform! Even the smallest size here on you would still be a chunk too long.”
Qin Ke Xuan rolled up the too-long sleeves and pants, shooting him a cold gaze. “Don’t nonsense, the results will be apparent on the battlefield.”
The bunch of them reached the target-shooting arena in a buzz. There happened to be other soldiers who were practising target shooting. A soldier who had a noticeably different uniform from them asked: “What do you want to do?”
“Reporting Sergeant One, we are just coming here to practice target shooting.” The squad leader replied.
“Go go, don’t you see the people from our platoon’s using the place? You guys can come use it after we’re done.” Sergeant One sent them away with impatience.
“Sergeant One, we are only using the 100 metre moving target shooting arena, we will not hinder your target shooting practice here.”
“Lad what do you mean? What, are we soldiers useless scoundrels that can only shoot dead targets?” Sergeant One glared at them. “You guys are but a reserve squad, it’s hard to say if you’ll even get into the actual squad! Look at how arrogant you are!”
“I don’t mean it that way…” The squad leader tried to explain.
Chi Qu Qi said, indignant: “Why don’t all of us compete then!”
“Then let’s compete! Who’s afraid of who!” Sergeant One accepted Chi Qu Qi’s challenge and instructed his people to put up the shooting target, and called a few soldiers to go to smash them.
The squad leader couldn’t help but lowly scolded Chi Qu Qi: “Private fights is strictly prohibited in the military, even if you’re looking to be beaten up, don’t drag us the entire squad down with you!”
“Qie*!” Chi Qu Qi rolled his eyes and whispered to the Qin Ke Xuan on his side sneakily: “That Sergeant One has always found us unpleasant to his eyes, where have we ever done anything wrong to him? Who’s fault is it, not being able to enter the Special Forces Squad?! Just because he’s a sergeant and a senior soldier for two years, he’d desperately taunt us every time he sees us. If it weren’t the fact that we’re all in the same troop, I’d have shot him several times over from impatience! You wait and see, I’ll make him throw his face and his insides at the shooting arena!”
*切 = qie; scoffing or dismissive interjection (works the same way as ‘pssh’/’yeah right’)
Qin Ke Xuan however, didn’t mind it much. It’s just that the original two-peopled competition becoming a two-partied competition only.
Chapter 31 - Demonic Training
The bunch of them went to the readied shooting arena with grandiose. Sergeant One said to the people in the Reserve Squad: “You have a total of five people, I’ll take out five people too. One person is sent out each time, the side that is able to complete shooting within the minimal time will win. As long as three people from one side win, that side will be considered the winner of this competition, can do?”
“Okay, if we lose, we’ll run one round around the company of troops shouting we’re useless scoundrels.” Chi Qu Qi shouted.
The squad leader bera
ted in discontent: “What madness are you saying?!”
“Squad leader! We’re still the Special Forces Reserve Squad regardless, have some confidence. If we really lose to them, we should just retire and get out of here!”
Upon seeing the other party suggesting such a punishment, Sergeant One didn’t want to appear weak, and said: “Then if we lose, all of us, including those who did not participate, will run a round admitting we’re scoundrels!”
The soldiers from the two sides were both burning with fervour. It looked like they had not seen each other eye to eye for a very long time already, just that there had not been any medium through which they could relief their discontent. So they were all seizing this opportunity to ferociously jeer at each other. Qin Ke Xuan took the assault rifle Chi Qu Qi handed her and listened carefully to their instructions: “We have five people. I’ll go first, followed by Tian Xue Qin, Lin Shao Yun, squad leader, and lastly Qin Ke Xuan. Qin Ke Xuan, since you haven’t learnt how to shoot a moving target 100 metres away, you’re going last so you have time to properly get the gist of our movements, get it?”
In the first round, Chi Qu Qi was matched up with a normal soldier, and so he won without doubt. Qin Ke Xuan memorised their running and shooting actions with ease. This shooting training was pretty interesting. The target popping up anytime and anywhere could train the person’s sharpness and reaction speed.
After four rounds, other than Lin Xiao Yun, all the three guys from the Reserve Squad had won. Even though the winner had been determined, the last round would still continue. Qin Ke Xuan was matched with Sergeant One.
Sergeant One upon seeing Qin Ke Xuan was not a familiar face, said: “Newcomer? Let me say this first, I’m not going to let you even if you’re a newcomer or a female.”
“No need.” The killer organisation she had been in had never not sent her out to kill because she was a female. Not only so, even as a female, she was ranked as the number one killer in the organisation. So long you had the skills, no one would mind if you’re a women, elderly or child.
Even though Qin Ke Xuan’s movements were not very standard, she won Sergeant One easily. Sergeant One brought his three squads of soldiers and ran a round around the camp, shouting out they were useless scoundrels in aggrievance, eliciting many onlookers from other troops. Of course, it also alarmed the leaders upstairs, and so the two sides were fiercely reprimanded and punished all the participants to go back and write a self-criticism report.
When the Reserve Squad returned to their warehouse base, Chi Qu Qi’s non-stop chirping pronounced his gratification about being able to foil Sergeant One’s plans.
“Haha, I can finally relieve my resentments after holding it in for so long! Shaung*!”
* 爽 = shuang; a word that expresses one feeling invigorated/rejuvenated/really awesome
Chi Qu Qi was just a big headache. The squad leader kicked him, scolding: “Shuang my ass! Now what! All the people in the entire base will know we Special Forces Reserve Squad have our noses up in the air. Now that we’ve ruined the senior soldier’s reputation, they’ll definitely start ostracising us!”
“Qie, even if we don’t ruin their reputation, they’ve already combined forces in ostracising us enough! It’ll all turn out the same in my opinion, so we should just fiercely jeer them! Squad leader, you dare say it’s not shuang?” Chi Qu Qi played around with the dagger in his hand, saying in disdain.
The squad leader rolled his eyes. “Course it’s shuang, but shuang in the dark yourself.”
“Dude, man show* much.”
* 闷骚 = men sao; ‘man show’ in English; refers to someone (usually males, but can be used for females as well) who is shy on the outside but wild on the inside
Qin Ke Xuan ignored their bantering and looked around at the equipment she’s never seen before in curiosity. As expected, it’s right to walk the path of joining the military. The technology utilised by the military was, as expected, the latest state-of-the-art, and this was especially evident for the Special Forces unit. They entered a room, inside the room sat a very large and very strange-looking machine that had a space in the middle for a person in sit in. There was a lot of stuff she didn’t understand installed in front of the seat. Perhaps this was something linked to the time machine? She’d seen all sorts of time machines in time travel movies, the majority of them were a coffin-like box. The person would be able to time travel just by lying in it and pressing a button.
“Qin Ke Xuan, you want to learn this?” Lin Xiao Yun came over and asked.
“Enh, what is this?” Qin Ke Xuan nodded her head.
“This is an aeroplane stimulation machine, come come, let ge ge teach you how to play this thing.” Chi Qu Qi got impatient from listening to the squad leader’s naggings. Upon hearing the commotion over here, he immediately came over, switched on the switch and let Qin Ke Xuan sit into one of the machines while he explained the use of each and every operation device.
After Chi Qu Qi switched it on, Qin Ke Xuan saw a screen on wall lowering slowly before the machine, and then a long road on the screen appeared. What was strange was that there were boxes on the screen. Aeroplane she knew. It was a large metal bird that could bring a lot of people and fly in the sky and could fly from one country to another in a very short time. However, this machine was noticeably different from the aeroplanes she had seen on the television.
“Aye, Special Forces soldier sure isn’t a job for humans. Other than requiring one’s stats to be stronger than normal soldiers, there is a shitload of random stuff we need to learn, I’mma die from excessive ejaculation* sooner or later!” Chi Qu Qi taught Qin Ke Xuan while complaining.
“Oi oi! Is this something to say in front of a girl?!” Tian Xue Qin sent a slap on Chi Qu Qi’s head.
Chi Qu Qi rubbed his head in pain, saying apologetically: “I don’t mean it literally, I meant 精*(jing; essence) as in 精神 (jing shen; spirit/mind)… Qin Ke Xuan have you memorised all the stuff I explained?” Upon seeing his explanation still elicited looks of disdain from everyone, he automatically swerved the topic of discussion onto Qin Ke Xuan. “What you see on the screen in front is the runway. Later when you fly into the sky, it will be the scene of the sky, quite similar to a normal plane. Pilots use stimulation machines to practice before driving a real aeroplane. As for us, it’s not like we’ll actually need to pilot a plane even if we do learn how to pilot a plane after practising with the stimulation machine. After all, we’re not pilots, we will not have any chance to pilot unless the circumstance is special.”
* original phrase used is 精尽人亡 which means to die from excessive ejaculation, where the 精 (jing) here means semen; Chi Qu Qi rebukes by saying he is referring to 精 with the context of 精神 (jing shen) which means state of his mind, hence is saying he’ll die from mental exhaustion rather than its original meaning.
Qin Ke Xuan nodded her head. The steering wheel, rudder pedal, throttle and valve and etcetera to her were quite similar to that of a car, both required each device to control each function. She was able to grasp the gist of things after trying a few times.
“Hehe, not bad not bad. When you won that guy at the target-shooting arena and made him so angry his face turned green, I knew at that moment that this pretty girl had some skills. As expected, you have my demeanour!” Chi Qu Qi gave her a thumbs up. “But this is just the foundation to flying, let me give you some harder stuff to play with.”
Qin Ke Xuan really couldn’t bring herself to be happy after being praised by him. Who would want to have his demeanour? However, from her observations, out of everyone that was currently here, he, the most unreliable one, was indeed the strongest out of all of the rest. As for the rest of the people, she would have to wait till they come down for night training to know.
Qin Ke Xuan tried all the machines at the warehouse base before the class-wide training finally came. Everyone was all somewhat interested in this newest yet youngest member, and all sized her up after introducing themselve
s.
However, they couldn’t spare the effort to size her up long because the demonic training began.
The training for the Special Forces Reserve Squad was lead by the proper members of the Tercel Brigade. In their words, it meant having seniors as their leader. There would only be one captain, the rest of the members would be vice-captain and would be in charge of the varied training activities.
In the beginning, they were tasked to run ten rounds around the track with weights strapped on. This school field track was no one comparable to this running track; the running track here was several times that distance. Before long, everyone’s breathing and footsteps had become disarrayed. One of the vice-captains running alongside them said very leisurely: “Why, already so tired after running this little distance? If so then it’s better you guys stop being a Special Force soldier, if word gets out, you’re gonna be throwing our faces!”
Chi Qu Qi muttered: “Easier said than done.”
“Xiao Chi zi*, what you muttering about?”
* 子 = zi; suffix attached to names (works similarly to how ‘xiao’ is a prefix)
“Reporting, I didn’t say anything!”
“Hoh, I heard you little guy went and made trouble with Sergeant One. Since you’re all capable now, why don’t you run two more rounds? And let’s see if you still have the energy to taint the reputation of the Special Force soldiers?” The vice-captain teased.
Chi Qu Qi’s face creased, and he implored: “Vice-cap! Brother! I’m begging you! Can you please don’t torment this little body anymore? I swear I will not go and provoke Sergeant One purposely ever again! I just brought the newcomer to familiarise the surroundings and shoot some targets, who knew he’d find me a hindrance. I couldn’t swallow this taunt and neither could I allow the newcomer to be bullied, so I wound up challenging him.”