Chapter 248: Enter Jin Tao (2/2)

They stopped a few feet away from Lan Jue. “Boss,” Mika said, “we’ve brought him for you.”

Lan Jue nodded, though when he spoke he addressed Jin Tao. “Fall in. First line, farthest to the left.”

The left flank… whether students or soldiers, he knew what that meant. Only the exemplary members got that spot. Right now that spot was occupied by Tang Xiao.

“As you command,” Jin Tao answered without hesitation, then trotted over. His heavy steps thudded loudly as he did so.

Lan Jue then turned his attention to the two girls. He spoke with Mika first. “You go ahead. Guoguo stays here.”

“Very well.” Mika’s answer was quick, but there was a hint of surprise. It was the first time seeing her boss this way, so cold and no-nonsense. But so manly! She desperately wanted to stay and see what was happening, but had no recourse but to obey.

Lin Guoguo veritably jumped in to action. Filled with excitement, she took up position behind him like the other silver-masked assistants.

Lan Jue faced the gathered students, and spoke to them next.

“I’m sure you all know our newest addition, Jin Tao. You know his reputation. However, starting today, he is one of you. Part of the team. He will train alongside you.”

Tang Xiao shot Jin Tao a sidelong glance. He wasn’t the least bit upset with the fact that the dumb-mutt had taken his position. Instead, his small, dark eyes were alive with sadistic glee over what his fellow Disciple was to experience.

Jin Tao was suddenly filled with a palpable sense of foreboding. He knew the look in that fat fox’s eye meant something nasty was on its way.

Lan Jue went on. “Now that we’re all here, pushups. Begin. No one stops till I say so.”

No one made a sound, no one dared complain. They fall to the ground and started their push-ups as fast as they could.

After yesterday’s torment, the students had only been given four hours of sleep before they were woken up. Whether physical or mental, they were all beat. In fact, they felt like they were on the verge of collapse. In the end, though, they persisted.

The most common style of push-ups helped define and strengthen the muscles of the shoulders, chest and triceps, with some work being done to the upper back. It was a fine exercise for full-body training.

For these kids, with their Talent and physical fitness, three to five hundred was just getting started. The problem – or, rather, problems – were the needles jutting out of them from various directions. Everyone had at least three, and they locked their Discipline away. That, in addition to the exhaustion they felt from the harsh treatment of the training, meant they were on their last legs. Some started to struggle after only thirty-five.

Lan Jue’s hand gripped a steel needle.

Again?! Is he kidding?!

The stabbing itself was a strangely stimulating. Not physically, but for the sense organs. But could this devil really be considering a fourth?

The push-ups continued.

The only one taking it in stride was Jin Tao. He was in better shape than he’d ever had been in his entire life. He was a blur, and by the one-minute mark he was approaching two-hundred without being out of breath. Only now was he beginning to feel a little flush from the exertion. His power flooded him, gave him power, so much so that he was afraid he couldn’t adequately control it.

Suddenly, there was a flash. Three quick bursts of… something. Jin Tao felt his body seize. Three shiny new needles sprouted from his back.

He remained there, at the high point of a push, frozen and flabbergasted. An Jue’s voice wafted towards him from behind. “Jin Tao is late, by an entire day. What you all experienced yesterday, he must endure today – and more, so that he can catch up.” As he spoke, a golden bolt of electricity struck Jin Tao. The young man had been in the process of rising to his feet, having shaken off the initial jabs. Now he remained still as a sculpture.

People are all the same; they want others to experience their pain, to exceed it. There was a sick, shadenfreude sense of comfort in it.

Seeing Jin Tao a victim of the devil’s lightning, and seeing him suffer the three needles as they had, immediately brought some solace to the beleaguered students. Suddenly the push-ups didn’t seem so bad.

Though they were operating on four hours of sleep, they didn’t feel weakened from it. They picked up speed, but none seemed to realize an important fact; no one cared how many they did. It wouldn’t make their future troubles any less terrifying.

It wasn’t long before the fourth needle was added to the third, and the boiling medicine water was reintroduced, for everyone. Jin Tao suffered the same fate, but no matter what Lan Jue threw at him, he endured.

That’s why one of the golden-masked monsters interrupted his steam bath with a fireball to the face.