Chapter 24 - Training Camp III (1/2)

Chapter 24: Training Camp III

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Translations

From that day onward, Li Sui noticed the siblings’ relationship had changed slightly. Though they would still bicker, it lacked the former seriousness, they would even make jokes during meals.

As their roommate, Li Sui was of course relieved, but that made him suspicious of Wang Wei, “You knew from the beginning that he didn’t have malaria? Did you suggest that on purpose?”

Wang Wei was washing his socks, hearing Li Sui speak, he raised his head up. With a lost expression, he asked, “What did you just say?”

“…”

Intense training began the next day; soon no-one had the strength left to think about anything else. Every day, they had to wake up at five thirty, then immediately run 10 kilometers around the mountain. The trainer did not specify a time limit, but breakfast was served at seven thirty sharp, so if they wanted to have breakfast, they had to finish running in one and a half hours. Usually, after running for so long, they would be so tired that they could barely hold a pair of chopsticks. So, when they had to do tire flips and squat jumps afterwards, they could barely move.

After a whole day of training, Li Sui sank his face into the washing basin. Pain spread through his skin, he had been exposed to the sun for too long, so he got sunburns; parts of his skin were peeled off. He could no longer move his shoulders, it was as if his legs were amputated, he could no longer feel them. During dinner that night, after sitting down at the dining table, Li Sui felt all his organs had left him, he had zero appetite.

Li Sui had a habit of going to the gym at least, but even he felt horrible, so SiMa JingRong and the rest were much worse off. After getting back to the dormitory, SiMa JingRong lay straight on the bed, not even going to take a shower.

“There’s still a month left, will I still be alive after this month?”

Wang Wei brought in a few buckets of hot water, “Stop sulking. At least go take a shower.”

SiMa JingRong wasn’t the only one, others in the dormitory were just like him. They were all pampered rich kids who lacked training, so suddenly being tortured like this, a lot of them began to feel like giving up. After repeating the same training regimen for four days, the attendees’ emotions boiled over. SiMa JingRong refused to go anywhere, he hugged the bed headboard tightly with a crying face, not willing to leave bed for training.

As SiMa JingRong made a huge fuss, the people next door joined in the protest as well. With the expanding momentum, more and more people banded together, saying they wanted to go home.

During the commotion, the trainer walked up the dormitory, he held an amplifier, “You are giving up already?”

“Trainer, this is an impossible mission.”

“Yeah. We only need to make money, why do we need such a good physique?”

“Even my parents won’t treat me like this, what gives you the right…”

The trainer listened to all of their vents with an expressionless face, then he announced, “All of you can go back home on one condition. I have a list here; it marks the goal you need to reach each day. If any of you could reach the goals written here on any one of these days, I will let you leave. If not, then there’s no negotiations.”

He walked away after leaving the paper behind, after walking for a few steps, he turned back and said, “When your parents sent you here, they signed a contract with me. I am responsible for all of you, if any of you have problems, I can report back to your parents.”

The sentence was neither heavy nor light, but the people with a little bit of brain would understand their own situation now. The parents who would send their kids here were usually not that soft-hearted. To give up halfway through would be a disgrace to the family. If word got out, not only would they fail to get empathy, their parents would most likely condemn them.

SiMa Yan took the goal list back inside, he looked at the paper while frowning, soon a glimmer of hope was in his eyes, “This doesn’t look too hard.”

Wang Wei looked at the paper as well, he said after some thought, “Run 10 kilometers around the mountain in 50 minutes. We ran for 60 minutes today, that means, we just have to run a bit quicker.”

It was nice in words, but when they actually tried acting it out, things weren’t as they had imagined. The goals listed on the paper seemed to be set according to their body limit, every time they feel like they were close, they would find that they were a few minutes insufficient. The next day, they would try again only to find that their speed had increased, but the goal had also increased to a level they could not reach.

At the beginning, all of them were hopeful, but after a few trials, they began to realize, the trainer did this on purpose to bait them. SiMa JingRong was extremely angry at the discovery, while he stomped his feet in anger. Li Sui noticed, the tiredness they felt at the beginning was now gone. It was replaced by a better grasp of his limits, he knew when he should run faster, when he should go slowly, what kind of posture was the most effortless. After all these days of training, Li Sui felt like he had a better grasp of the trick behind.

After being under the sun for so long, his skin got more used to it. Li Sui learned to use the trees and the natural environment to stay out of the sun. When he returned to his room, he found the burning sensations from before were slowly fading.

Among venting and dissatisfaction, half a month had passed by. This morning, the trainer wasn’t wearing his usual uptight clothes, instead he appeared in a light sports uniform.

“After all the training in recent days, I am sure you all have a better understanding of your own capabilities. So, starting today, I will teach all of you something more tangible. I will teach you how to use battle techniques to incapacitate enemies in the shortest amount of time.”

Li Sui froze at the sentence; he was reminded of the knife-wielding assailant at the hot springs resort. That time, if it wasn’t for his quick response, leading the assailant away, Lu Shang would most likely be injured. If he could fight like Zuo Chao, then he wouldn’t have gotten hurt himself afterwards. At this moment, he understood better why Lu Shang sent him here.

Though the trainer was harsh towards them, he was serious in teaching. In their daily training, he had already remembered each of their specialties. Li Sui noticed that the techniques he taught to each person was slightly different. For instance, SiMa Yan was thin, so the techniques he taught him were mainly light maneuvers. The trainer even taught him a set of back jump kick; to accomplish this move, one needed to have a certain amount of flexibility and agility, not everyone could do it. The move might sound simple, but it was extremely useful. If he were to encounter kidnappers in the future, escaping wouldn’t be a problem when utilized well. It could be counted as one of the three most useful fighting techniques.

Li Sui also noticed something else, most of the techniques the trainer taught focused on tactics, none of the moves require a high level of strength and balance. After he considered it seriously, strength and balance couldn’t be trained up in just a month. Hence, even if the trainer taught them techniques that required both, it would be useless to them. On the other hand, tactics were just as important as pure strength, if they could use it well, tactics could have an even greater value than sheer force.

When it was SiMa JingRong’s turn, the trainer froze. Then he just asked him to go to the sides and move rocks.

“Move rocks?” SiMa JingRong thought he must have heard wrong.

“You aren’t cut out for fighting, if you are faced with danger, just pick up a rock to throw at your opponents. Remember to pick the bigger ones, since you’re lazy, you won’t want to pick rocks over and over again.”

The crowd began laughing, SiMa JingRong’s face turned red for a while, then pale. The trainer was relentless, he even explained the art of rock throwing in detail. Talking about what kind of rocks worked the best, which parts of the body were the weakest, what distance was the best for throwing rocks. Even SiMa JingRong couldn’t find a point to refute or fuss about with how serious the trainer was.

SiMa Yan uncooperatively giggled at the sides as well, “The trainer is correct. With how stupid my brother is, even if the trainer taught him clever tactics, the first thing he would do when facing an enemy would still be to run.”

Li Sui thought through his words, and he couldn’t but agree, it was just too accurate.

What Li Sui learned was a set of free combat moves, it revolved mainly around kicking, punching, and throwing. All the maneuvers were plain and simple, but they could be grouped together differently according to the situation. If the opponent’s height was favorable, he could even attack their temple with his elbow.

The trainer observed Li Sui practicing the moves, then he nodded, “You are quite talented. I can only teach you this much now. You should take full-fledged training courses after you leave.”

Li Sui stood back straight, then he showed his gratitude to the trainer.

By chance, the trainer saw the military badge on Li Sui’s chest. The trainer frowned slightly, asking, “What is this?”

Li Sui moved too much when he was practicing, the badge slipped out from under his clothes. Li Sui’s face turned pale, he was afraid the trainer would confiscate it, so he immediately said, “My family gave it to me before I came here. It’s for protection.”

The trainer used the bamboo stick he was holding to hook the badge up, with a better look, his expression changed. He glanced at Li Sui complicatedly, then he just said, “You should take good care of something so important.”