CR CH9

Chapter 9: Teammates

Jiang Tianji slept extraordinarily deeply.

It wasn’t until someone lightly patted his cheek that he jolted awake with a start.

The first thing greeting his eyes was three faces hovering uncomfortably close. Having already developed trauma from earlier today, Jiang Tianji instinctively leaped backward.

The trio stepped back in unison. Feng Huo gave him an admiring thumbs-up.

“Badass. I’ve never seen anyone sleep that like a log. No wonder you managed to show up late this morning.”

Huang Qi chuckled, completely filterless as usual.

“Seriously. Doing the same drills day in and day out is mind-numbing. We had a blast today—finally some entertainment around here… oof!”

Used to his antics, Ji Yandong delivered a clean elbow strike to his ribs without even turning around.

“We brought you dinner. Didn’t know your preferences, so we got the most popular option.”

Jiang Tianji pulled his gaze back from Huang Qi’s contorted, wincing face, swallowed involuntarily, and stood at attention like a model student.

Ji Yandong tapped the desk, gesturing for him to come over. Catching the two knuckleheads inching closer to eavesdrop, his voice sank.

“Go do what you’re supposed to do. Feng Huo, wash those rank socks in your locker. Huang Qi, you flunked the monthly ideological education test—go memorize the book. Across the entire capital basic corps of Planet Lixin, you can count the failures in that subject on one hand.”

The two slunk off in defeat.

Jiang Tianji glanced back, leaned in, and dropped his voice to inquire: “Squad Leader, we have monthly written exams here?”

“Not really. One section of the monthly assessment covers ideological education. It’s supposed to be a purely symbolic formality—any normal person passes with flying colors.”

Ji Yandong lowered his voice as well, quietly activating his comm unit.

On the way over earlier, Assistant Jiang had briefly laid out the setup for him.

In the basic corps, barracks rooms accommodated four people, and squads consisted of seven to eight members. Each squad leader was issued a comm unit for data storage, emergency situation reporting, and administrative tasks.

However, these units were standard military issue and came with integrated surveillance logging.

Ji Yandong pulled up his squad member’s test results from the logs.

A small virtual screen glowed to life before them. Shifting his attention back, Jiang Tianji leaned in for a closer look.

Question 1: If a teammate is injured and you are unfamiliar with first-aid procedures, what should be your first course of action?

A: Carry the person to an inhabited area to seek help

B: Use a beacon to send an emergency distress signal to your superior officer

C: Attempt makeshift aid on the spot based on intuition

D: Cry loudly right where you are

Jiang Tianji thought to himself that this was practically giving away free points—obviously the answer was B. Then he traced the line down and saw that the guy had picked D.

“…”

He froze, thoroughly dumbfounded, and instinctively looked down at the next question.

Question 2: If a teammate makes a mistake during training and is punished, what should you do?

A: Train diligently and comfort your teammate afterward

B: Show solidarity and pick a fight with the drill instructor

C: Vent anger and complain

D: Laugh at your teammate

Huang Qi had picked D.

Jiang Tianji instinctively glanced toward Huang Qi, who was over in the corner dutifully memorizing the ideological guidebook, utterly bewildered.

Is this really an issue that rote memorization can fix?

He turned back to lock eyes with Ji Yandong, phrasing his question as delicately as possible: “Squad Leader, did he fill this out seriously, or did he have some sort of unspeakable dilemma?”

“Completely serious. He claimed that a real man knows when to yield, corrects his mistakes, and must never speak against his own conscience.”

The moment the words landed, both men fell silent for a beat. Clearly, both had recalled Huang Qi’s gleefully unhelpful demeanor when Jiang Tianji was being punished earlier today.

Rubbing his temples with a headache, Ji Yandong chose to focus on guiding this fresh sapling first.

“Anyway… don’t take the things they say to heart. Everyone in our squad is decent deep down.” He retrieved a notebook, clicked open a pen, and jotted down notes as he explained things to Jiang Tianji.

“Your situation is unique. Feel free to ask me anything you’re unsure about day-to-day. Let me give you the broad strokes first.”

“After today, you probably have a general idea. Life in the Z01 basic unit is tiring, but the initial phase is fairly manageable. Later on, if you don’t intend to stay in active service or climb the ranks, the assessment pressure isn’t crushing either.”

“Keep your head down, do the drills, run the routine assignments, and after two years you can return to school… or stay behind in Z01 like me and serve as a squad leader.”

Jiang Tianji nodded, feeling considerably reassured.

It really wasn’t that different from being at school. Keep your nose clean for two years; it was just physically taxing, nothing more.

Fortunately, his baseline constitution had always been solid. While he was lazy by nature—never sitting if he could lie down—his natural physical build had always been gifted.

Jiang Tianji asked, “Squad Leader, why didn’t you leave Z01?”

Ji Yandong’s pen paused. He lowered his head and smiled. “Because I had a great squad leader once, and I wanted to become one too.”

Propping his chin in his hand, Jiang Tianji let out a wistful sigh: “And now I’ve met a great squad leader too. I’m just planning to coast behind my great squad leader for these two years, head back, focus on my studies, make some money, and treat the brothers to a feast… Ow!”

A pen tapped him lightly on the forehead. Ji Yandong gave him a deadpan look. “Several instructors praised your potential today.”

Jiang Tianji slapped his thigh in sheer regret. “I was too honest! I wasn’t thinking straight after getting drilled this morning. Now everyone knows I have a good build—how am I supposed to slack off in the future?”

Overhearing that, Huang Qi broke into a grin, tossed his textbook aside, and leaned in. “You know, you’re onto something. We have simulated sparring drills coming up. You can totally fake it tomorrow—if it hurts, just flop flat on the floor…”

Feng Huo poked his head out from the washroom where he was scrubbing socks, his booming voice echoing through the room: “Why would he need to fake it? We’ve been drilling for nearly two months, and he hasn’t learned a lick of combat technique yet. Fresh out of the academy, he’s going to get mopped across the floor regardless! Hey, we’re squadmates—how about we set up a code word? If you can’t take the heat, just holler, and I’ll give you a quick and painless out.”

Jiang Tianji’s eyes lit up. “Deal! Then when the time comes, I’ll—”

Thud.

Gripping his pen, Ji Yandong tapped the desk with a completely expressionless face. The other two scrambled back instantly: Huang Qi scrambled to pick up his discarded book, and Feng Huo obediently resumed tackling the mountain of dirty socks.

Looking at Ji Yandong’s deceptively lean arm, which was now taut with distinct, bulging veins, Jiang Tianji coaxed out an ingratiating smile.

“Squad Leader.”

Ji Yandong returned a warm, radiant smile—like a gentle spring breeze—before uttering words colder than a midwinter blizzard: “I will not go easy on you.”

Jiang Tianji wilted on the spot: “…”

“Come on, let’s keep going. We have a training debrief coming up shortly. The instructors will take their respective squads to the main briefing hall to review the best and worst performances. We also hold an arena sparring session once a week, so you arrived right on time… We’ll also be watching some real combat footage. Textbook-tier stuff.”

“Training reviews like this in the basic unit are considered gentle. The higher-tier divisions review live combat. Some of the people featured on screen are already…”

Ji Yandong trailed off, choosing not to finish that sentence.

“In short, the public combat clips you used to see on the official portal are child’s play compared to this. Field combat recordings archived directly by Federation Headquarters are rare treasures.”

Hearing this, Jiang Tianji remembered Assistant Jiang’s words and asked out of curiosity:

“I heard… are there clips of Captain Ling too?”

Before Ji Yandong could answer, another head popped out of the washroom, booming with enthusiasm.

“Hell yes! Let me tell you, the psychic unit next door has a training schedule deliberately offset from ours. Whenever Captain Ling’s combat recordings are being screened, those guys inevitably sneak in to watch. Even our drill instructors turn a blind eye—after all, you could argue it shows initiative!”

The psychic division within the basic units consisted of the cream of the crop among fresh recruits—top-tier aptitude, early awakening, and almost exclusively dominant Alphas. They carried themselves with an arrogant swagger, generally thinking quite highly of themselves.

Jiang Tianji scratched his cheek, not quite grasping the fuss. “Is it really that exaggerated?”

Ji Yandong, Huang Qi, and Feng Huo said in unison: “Exaggerated? You’ll see in a minute!”

“Understood…”

Seeing the three of them look so solemn and uncharacteristically unified, Jiang Tianji chose to wave the white flag for now.

He couldn’t help grumbling internally.

Have these guys been completely brainwashed by Z01?

Yet, Jiang Tianji never could have guessed that his skepticism would last for less than two hours.