A Show of Strength (Part 1/3)

"I... will keep in touch with you often." Qin Fen felt a bit diffident speaking these words. He really did wish to be able to contact Song Jia often, but these words were first said by Lin Liqiang. He couldn't help feeling a bit guilty when repeating them.

Luckily, Song Jia didn't discover Qin Fen's guilty conscience. A smile of true happiness blossomed on her face, "I'm very pleased. You need to remember what you just said."

Qin Fen nodded seriously. Even though he was used to a lonely life of solitude, he would still feel a bit depressed if there was no one to send him off to the military. He felt a special warmth in his heart with Song Jia sending him off and bidding him farewell.

"Remember to practice the Rejuvenation Art when you're tired."

"Yes."

"If you get sick, remember to quickly go get checked up by the military doctor."

"Okay."

"Most importantly," Song Jia stared at Qin Fen very seriously, "Remember to think of me."

Thirty minutes was a short period of time. The large military transport ship's horn of Pier Number 3 blared out.

The young recruits began to slowly board the military transport ship. Qin Fen pointed at the nonstop blaring of the horn, "I should go."

Song Jia gently nodded, her voice becoming softer, "Take care."

"I will."

Qin Fen turned around and suddenly felt Song Jia's hand resting on his shoulder. He subconsciously looked back, and just so happened to catch that beautiful face quickly approach.

Kiss ....

Her red lips carried the fragrance of orchids as they gently touched Qin Fen's face like a dragonfly touching the water. Before Qin Fen could react, Song Jia had already turned and ran. Only her words echoed quietly within his ears, "Remember to think of me."

Hundred of envcious gazes shot over, and Qin Fen's face turned scorching hot. His heart was thumping fast as he reached to gently touch the spot where he was kissed. With a hand on his face, he followed the crowd and boarded the military ship.

The horn immediately blared after the final soldier boarded the ship, indicating that the ship was taking off. The enormous military transport slowly sailed out of port.

Song Jia stood in the middle of a crowd, watching the ship as it departed. She dialed Lin Liqiang's number, "Qiangster, the military ship has set sail. You won't have the chance to send him off even if you wanted to."

"Jia Jia, men are different from women. How ugly is it to have two dudes chirp away like birds? Sometimes a real man can't be overly emotional. All right! So it's like this. I saw a beautiful girl. Talk to you later."

At the shore, within the crowd of people sending their loved ones off, Lin Liqiang hung up the phone. He was normally very talkative, but today was different from the past.

"Humph...." Song Jia stared at her phone after being hung up on and shook her head, "I really don't understand. They're such good friends. Why did he go picking up girls instead of sending him off? 

In a different corner of the crowd, Enzo Rota, silent as always, slowly turned and walked toward the exit to the port.

Qin Fen stood at the ship's railing, a deep smile engraved on his face. He had turned his head as he boarded the ship, and he easily found Lin Liqiang and Enzo Rota hiding in the crowd of countless people. Sometimes it was very hard to describe the rapport between friends.

The transport ship would sail approximately three nautical miles for its journey. The silence among the recruits had gradually turned into a low whisper of discussions. Everyone knew that they would probably eat and live together in the same training camp for the next half a year. It was better to get to know each other early on.

Qin Fen found the spot on the deck divvied to the Second Squad, First Platoon, Third Company, Second Battalion. He stood there by himself in silent thought. This transport ship could only transport two thousand people. At least four days were needed to transport everyone to Australia.

With current science and technology, a large airplane could complete the same task in a shorter period of time. Why were they using this time-wasting method of transport?

"All right! Listen up you maggots! Get over here!"

A boorish voice suddenly rang out from the loudspeaker, interrupting quite a few recruits waving goodbye to their loved ones.

"There are numbers on the deck corresponding to each of you. Tit-sucking soldiers, stand at your designated spots!"

The simple and crude order was sent out, causing a fluster of chaos to occur on the deck. People hurried to find their squad's spot.

A group of seasoned soldiers wearing well-ironed uniforms walked out from the ship's cabin.

Compared to the recruits who had no military accomplishments, the seasoned soldiers used their actions to show everyone what a fast and non chaotic order was.

"Hello everyone, from henceforth I am your squad leader. You can come to me for anything you don't understand or any difficulties you have. Everyone, you can call me Squad Leader Hao.

Compared to the rest of the drill instructors, whose voices were as tough-as-nails, the squad leader for Qin Fen's squad spoke very amiably. A sincere smile brimmed on his face.

A smile of good fortune broke out one by one on the faces of the recruits who were still nervous. At the same time, they used gazes of extreme sympathy to sweep their eyes over the recruits of the other squads.

While the other squad leaders continued to speak with rough voices, Squad Leader Hao used a smile to say, "Don't be too nervous everyone. Come! Let's sit down and chat."

The recruits were very shocked by such cordialness. They rejoiced all the more at their good luck in having a squad leader with such a good temperament.

"I'm assuming that quite a few people are curious. Why aren't we using faster transport? Why are we wasting so much time by traveling by sea?"

Squad Leader Hao just finished speaking, and Qin Fen and his other squad members nodded their heads one by one, when they suddenly discovered that there was someone in there squad with a sneer of disdain. This person didn't nod along in curiosity.

"Actually, the situation's like this," Squad Leader Hao disregarded the one who didn't nod. He scratched his head with a hand and spoke straightforwardly, "The transport by sea is merely for the sake of getting everyone to adapt to life in the military. Military training had already begun the moment everyone boarded the ship."

A coarse from the squad leader of First Squad came ringing through the air, "Tit-suckers! Don't think that becoming a soldier is like being on vacation! The brass gave me a chance to drill you all, so I will let you all know what it means to be a soldier! Starting from now, you will give up all your time for training aside from time for eating and sleeping!First do two-hundred push-ups as a warm up. Then run twenty laps around the ship. Then...."

Squad Leader Hao smiled embarrassingly, "Well there you go. This is the task the brass arranged down to you."

Hints a fear showed up on quite a few people's faces. This was no training. This was simply toying with their lives.