138 Isolation

As usual, I'm asking three times! Votes, recommendations, collections, collections, collections! Please collect, please collect, please collect, please collect!

September 16th, just past seven in the morning.
The military training base.
"Hey, hey, hey! How did you guys at the Ministry of Security, a ministry-level unit, manage this? Why on earth would you want to detain such an important prisoner at our place?"
"We're just holding him temporarily. Who told your base to be the closest to the 32nd Army Airport?"
"Our base is hosting the incoming Peking University freshmen for military training today. Just how long is this temporary detention going to last?"
"Don't worry, people from Department Seven will definitely arrive before noon. Once we get the prisoner onto Department Seven's troop carrier, our mission will be successfully accomplished!"
"Just for a single prisoner, and you need a troop carrier? Are you out of your mind?"
"That depends on how you look at it. Anyway, caution is always the best policy."

Meanwhile, inside the Peking University campus, students from various departments and classes were gathering by their respective buses. Since the entire History Department had just over forty freshmen, they were assigned to the same bus.

Tao Youfei was the last freshman from the History Department to arrive. She hailed from Tianjin, a city neighboring the capital. Standing tall, she looked like a crane among chickens, carrying herself with elegance and a noble aura. Her smile made all the female students in the History Department green with envy.

As for the male students, who made up a mere quarter of the History Department, their attention shifted to her instantly upon her arrival. One by one, they loitered around Tao Youfei at a delicate distance—some observing from afar, others trying to edge closer.

Tao Youfei was struggling to haul her two massive suitcases into the tour bus's luggage compartment. It looked rather strenuous for her, yet not a single female student around her offered to lend a hand. The male students certainly wanted to help, but they kept eyeing each other competitively, and none of them dared to make the first move.

Just then, Yang Tang was walking back, in high spirits after finishing a nagging phone call with his mom near the back of the bus. He happened to pass by Tao Youfei and saw her struggling with her back. Without hesitation, he stepped up to help. "Classmate, this is for military training. Dragging two massive suitcases like this that weigh a ton—anyone would think you're moving houses!"

Seeing Yang Tang's action, the boys and girls began to buzz with discussion.
"Who is this?"
"Is he from our department?"
"Seems like it."
"This guy actually stole my thunder!!"
"What do you mean, your thunder? She's right there, why didn't you step up!"

Tao Youfei stowed the luggage, spun around, looked Yang Tang over carefully, and took the initiative to extend her hand. "Hello, fellow classmate. My name is Tao Youfei. Actually, most of the stuff in those suitcases is books!"

Yang Tang looked Tao Youfei up and down in return, noticing that her regular facial features possessed a certain heroic quality. However, when she smiled, her slightly narrow eyebrows added a touch of allure. Moreover, instead of the raw greenness of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old, she gave off the delightful impression of a young woman in the prime of her youth. "Hello, my name is Yang Tang. As for what's in the suitcases, you don't need to explain it to me." With that, he walked straight onto the bus.

Regarding Yang Tang's behavior, the boys and girls broke into another round of chatter, calling him foolish, stupid, and an idiot, among other things. Only Tao Youfei watched the back of Yang Tang as he boarded the bus, a hint of genuine interest gleaming in the depths of her bright eyes.

At seven-forty, everyone was on board and the bus set off.
On the bus, the front half was full of chattering students, while in the back half, the other nine male students seemed to have reached a tacit agreement to deliberately isolate Yang Tang.

Yang Tang was quite content with the peace and quiet. He claimed the entire back row for himself, used his travel luggage bag as a pillow, and fell asleep.

After two hours of bumpy roads, the freshman fleet finally arrived at the picturesque military training base.
It was already nine-forty-five. After waiting on the bus for a few more minutes and listening to the accompanying teacher's instructions, the freshmen finally got off and headed to the parade ground to find their respective companies. Following the company instructors' arrangements, they listened to orders and entered their respective dormitories.

After a flurry of tossing and turning, it was eleven o'clock before they knew it.
Next came the mobilization meeting before the training officially began. People took turns on the stage like a revolving lantern, yakking away endlessly. Seeing that it was almost twelve o'clock, it was time for lunch.

"Assemble on the parade ground after lunch!"
Upon receiving this order, everyone disbanded and headed straight for the cafeteria.
All cafeterias under heaven are essentially the same, and the national currency is accepted everywhere. After paying for his meal, Yang Tang was looking around for a place to sit when, unexpectedly, at a table where a group of company instructors were sitting together, a hand was raised to wave at him. "Xiao Yang, over here!"

"Huh?"
Yang Tang glanced over slightly and discovered to his dismay that the person waving him over was none other than Qin Yijian. He couldn't help feeling a headache coming on.

Walking over and pulling up a chair to sit next to them, Yang Tang showed not a shred of cowardice. He swept his gaze across the table and said to Qin Yijian, "Didn't you finish your leave and go back to the troops?"
"Is this place not part of the military? Can't I be seconded here to work?" In fact, Qin Yijian had been temporarily seconded to the military training base as a second lieutenant in a Class-A unit to train the elite soldiers here. If there were any promising raw talents among the elite, he would select the best to take with him, though he preferred quality over quantity.

Yang Tang shoveled down a few mouthfuls of mediocre yet heavily-portioned food and said, "Where you love to work is none of my damn business. Why did you call me over here?"
"It's very simple. I know your close-combat skills are good, and all these fellows around you are in dire need of practice. So during your military training, I'm giving them a small task: anyone who can take you down gets extra points!" Qin Yijian said.

Yang Tang rolled his eyes dramatically. "I don't agree! I'm going to report you to your superior officer!"
Qin Yijian smiled rather smugly. "Ha, I'm so sorry, but my superior officer is currently blowing wind and eating sand in the Northwest Gobi Desert. As long as you can find him, I don't mind your complaint!"

Hearing this, Yang Tang's gaze turned sharp, and he said indifferently, "A soldier attacking a civilian without cause—as an innocent civilian, I am naturally entitled to launch a counterattack. So, Brother Jian, you'd better advise your men not to come and attack me. In case a fight breaks out and we lose our sense of proportion, and someone suddenly drops dead, won't your future be completely ruined?"

Qin Yijian's expression shifted slightly.
Finally, a dark-faced instructor with square features sitting nearby couldn't help but interject, "What kind of big talk are you spouting, you brat!" As he spoke, his left hand shot out like lightning, aiming straight for Yang Tang's wrist.

Yang Tang acted as though he hadn't noticed the dark-faced man's sneak attack, raising his chopsticks to pick up some shredded pork with green peppers from his plate.

At that moment, the instructor's claw-like hand drew closer, almost brushing against the fine hairs on Yang Tang's wrist. But just then, everyone felt a blur before their eyes. Yang Tang's right forearm executed a bizarre twist, calmly dodging the claw strike. At the same time, thrusting his chopsticks into the pile of shredded pork, he delivered a backhanded slap that landed squarely on the side of the dark-faced man's wrist.

This miraculous sight left the instructors dumbfounded. Fortunately, they were sitting in a tight circle, preventing the curious students peeking over from catching even a hint of what had happened.

The dark-faced instructor lowered his voice to a whisper, cold sweat beading densely on his face as he cried out, "Ouch, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts! The bones in my wrist feel like they're broken!"
"It's not that they feel like it; they are definitely broken. This is naturally the adverse consequence triggered by Qin Yijian's erroneous decision. Gentlemen instructors, you are more than welcome to go and report him!" As he spoke, Yang Tang picked up his tray and stood up. "Also, this is the military training period, and I am a Peking University student. If you people end up getting me killed, the trouble will be even bigger!"

Hearing this, Qin Yijian and the group of instructors were petrified collectively. It seemed they hadn't really considered this problem at all.

After lunch, there was an hour-long session on how to tidy up living quarters.
At two o'clock, right during the hottest part of the day, Yang Tang and his platoon were led to the parade ground by their instructor to start learning military posture and marching. This training lasted a full two hours. Fortunately, the instructor wasn't one of the guys Yang Tang had met at the lunch table; otherwise, after spending half the day together, both of them would have felt extremely awkward.

At four-thirty, the instructor ended the training early and allowed Yang Tang and the others to return to the dormitories to rest.

The dormitory was of the large open-bay style. Upon pushing the door open, three sets of bunk beds lined the walls on both sides, connecting head-to-tail all the way to the window. In other words, a single dorm could house twelve people, but according to military regulations, only ten people lived there—precisely the number for a full squad—leaving one bed empty to store everyone's luggage.

Back in the dorm, everyone began to get acquainted. Among the ten people, aside from Yang Tang, there was another male student from the History Department named Liu Tong. Logically speaking, freshmen from the same department should stick together, but this fellow Liu Tong had been giving Yang Tang dirty looks ever since entering the training base, seemingly holding a strong grudge against him.

True to form, with a sharp "crack," Liu Tong deliberately knocked over a thermos flask, and as luck would have it, the flask crashed squarely onto the military boots Yang Tang had just taken off. Water poured out from the broken bottle, soaking both boots completely.

Seeing this, and meeting Liu Tong's gaze, which held a faint trace of triumph, Yang Tang hopped down from the top bunk and slammed his right heel squarely onto the top of the other guy's foot.

"Ah!"
Liu Tong let out a shriek like a slaughtered pig. Yang Tang waved his hands repeatedly. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Since you wet my boots, I'll just wear yours instead!" With that, his feet had already shoved themselves into the military boots Liu Tong had changed out of. "Your feet sweat a bit, but I don't mind!"

Seeing this, Liu Tong was so enraged he wanted to commit murder. Without hesitation, he picked up the remaining plastic shell of the broken thermos flask and hurled it at Yang Tang.

Yang Tang, having slipped into the boots, ducked low as if scurrying away in panic. In reality, he tripped Liu Tong with his foot. Combined with the excessive force Liu Tong used to throw the object, the latter suffered a classic face-plant.

The freshmen who had been intending to watch the drama between Yang and Liu finally snapped back to reality and rushed over to help Liu Tong up. Taking advantage of the distraction, Yang Tang slipped out the door and announced in a ringing voice, "Hey guys, it's so hot today, I'm going to buy some ice pops so everyone can cool down!" With a flash of his figure, he vanished from sight.

Liu Tong, who had taken a massive tumble, found his hands full of sharp shards from the thermos liner. He was shivering in pain throughout his entire body, yet he couldn't squeeze out so much as a peep.

"What is Department Seven doing? There's still no sign of them!"
"How would I know? They said they'd definitely come to pick the person up before noon. Look at what time it is now..."
"It's a few minutes past five. If they still don't show up by five-thirty, I'm reporting this matter to the military sub-district!"
"Don't do that. Isn't it just holding a prisoner for a few hours longer? If you report it up like that, I reckon the higher-ups won't have a very good impression of our base."
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"You ask me, I—Bang! Bang!!"
"What was that sound?"
"It's gunfire!"

New week, please collect, please collect, please collect!