Cheng Han quietly ran next to his bunkmate Jiang Chen the two of them were almost always pulling up the rear with Cheng Han never coming in last. Jiang Chen whispered, "Cheng, I heard a rumor from one of the guys in Bravo company that an entire squad was decommissioned. Said they were just thrown off the side of the cliff because they didn't pull together."
Cheng Han sneered and whispered in reply, "That's stupid, why would they kill so many third level cultivators? It's more likely that they just shipped them back to town and released them to public safety jobs like policemen."
Jiang Chen shook his head and whispered, "No, my dad is a policeman, no one on the force is above the second level unless they are injured veterans."
Cheng Han's face suddenly went pale he whispered back a little louder, "That can't be true, my cousin said I should purposely try to look bad so that I would be released from the war. He said that it's a common practice for elite families. My Cheng family is one of the most elite."
Jiang Chen frowned and said, "You think the Jiang family are losers? Everyone here is an elite from a powerful family, but that's just here on the human world. The Angelic don't consider any human family elite. We are just cannon fodder. Even the elders of most families are barely at the level of a foot soldier of the Angelic. It sounds like your cousin might have been trying to let you get yourself decommissioned."
Cheng Han suddenly balled up his fists in anger, "Good, good Cheng Yu, what a good cousin you are. I always wondered why he and his father barely cultivated. They both seemed to stall at the second level of the foundation stage. All of our elders were lost in the war but one, but he no longer speaks. My uncle and his son run the family industries now because they couldn't cultivate to the third level. They pushed me to attain the third level as fast as I could and here I thought it was just to take my rightful place at the head of the company."
Jiang Chen shook his head and said, "The only place a cultivator past the third level can go is into the military and only those who survive can live. This is the truth. I know I am last in the squad, but that's why I give it all I have every time. I don't want to die yet." He looked at the backs of the men in front and said, "Cheng, we have to rise. The only thing coming in last gets you is dead."
Sergeant Tang suddenly shouted out, "Halt. Everyone get into formation." He walked down the lines and started to speak, "It has come to my attention that we have a member of this squad who is hiding as one of the weakest in the squad. This individual purposely comes in second to last in every single trial, test and performance evaluation on purpose. I have no idea why this individual would do something so incredibly stupid, but I want this individual to know that it has been noticed." He stopped in front of Cheng Han, "Recruit Cheng, you are hereby promoted to Team Leader. Squad 47 is now under your command whenever I am not present. Do you understand?"
Cheng Han shouted in reply, "Yes, Drill Sergeant!"
Sergeant Tang bent down next to his ear and whispered, "This entire squad is going to be flushed down the toilet. If you can't produce positive results, you'll be right down the sewer with them. I don't know who convinced you it was a good strategy to be near the bottom, but they were ignorant. The Angelic only need the best, but they also don't need a strong human population. I think you know what that means, don't you?"
He shouted out again, "Team Leader Cheng will be taking you to the battlegrounds to start your team training. I will act as an observer. Those of you who aren't the team leader should do your best to prove that you are worthwhile soldiers. Team Leader Cheng, jog them to the battlegrounds."
Cheng Han jogged up to the front of the squad and started to jog at a much quicker pace than the Sergeant had seen from him before. The rest of the squad started to fall behind. He looked back and saw that they were going at their own pace. He chuckled and said, "I am almost always last and you idiots can't keep up?"
The unruly mob that was squad 47 all looked at each other and started to run to pass Cheng Han who subtly increased his pace as they started to catch him. Sergeant Tang closed his fist as a grin spread over his face. Even last-place Jiang managed to stay with the group. He wasn't sure that Cheng's style would be effective in the long run, but his short term results were exactly what the squad needed.
*****
Long Shen lead squad 48 to the battleground as Sergeant Xian made his way up to the observation stand that looked over the field. Standing next to Sergeant Xian was Lieutenant Dan. Not long after that Sergeant Tang arrived. Lieutenant Dan called out, "Squad 48, you are the blue team. Squad 47 you are the red team. Your mission is to capture the other team's flag with minimal casualties from your team. The victory condition is both flags held by one team. You have 5 minutes before we begin."
Squad 48 all gathered around Long Shen waiting for orders. Long Shen looked at them and said, "I'll go get their flag, you guys defend ours, go with Sergeant Xian's turtle formation. I am going to take out as many of them as I see along the way. Fatty and Chen I want you guys to prepare for their distractions, you'll act as if you are taking the bait if they get near the base, only you're going to collapse back on the flag." Alright, let's get in position.
On the other side of the field, Cheng sat back as Xiang and a couple of the other mouthy recruits started to decide things. He cleared his throat and said, "We are going to lose in one minute."
They all turned and looked at him, "Cheng, this is serious, we don't need a nobody like you telling us what to do. If you were any good we would have seen it by now," Xiang sneered.
Cheng shrugged and said, "One minute, Long Shen is at least the fifth level of the foundation stage. Your plan is to have everyone go down at once and blitz them? Who's defending that can stand up against someone as strong as our Sergeant?"
"Look, we all know why you were made the team leader, they want us to fail. Just sit back and let the adults come up with the strategy and you can reap the rewards of our efforts," Xiang condescendingly remarked.
Cheng shrugged and said, "When we lose in one minute, we do things my way if we get a second chance. Understood?"
Xiang sneered and then looked at the others around them and said, "Yeah, whatever, just try not to get hurt by them, 'team leader'." He snorted in laughter causing the others in the squad aside from Jiang Chen to laugh.
The horn sounded and the entire group of men from Squad 47 sprinted over to the blue team side. Only to find a smiling Long Shen sprinting in their own direction. Long Shen ran through the middle of their forces knocking them down with strikes. Four of the tougher members of the red team were knocked unconscious. One minute later the horn sounded and the blue team had attained victory.
The medics came out and tended to the wounded and then each team was once again gathered at their base for strategic planning. The red team gathered at the back and Cheng Han looked at them and said, "I warned you."
Xiang looked at the others and said, "Ok, let's all defend this time that way one guy can't run through us all to get our flag."
Cheng Han looked at him with anger on his face and said, "You do that, we'll lose in one minute again. You can't stop someone two levels above you. None of you can. We are children playing with a grown man. If we have any chance of winning, it's to get our flag on the run and get him away from theirs. At least that way, we take away his advantage."
"Shut your face, Cheng. No one here wants to hear anything one of the worst members of our squad has to say" Xiang yelled at him, his group of followers nodded along with him.
Cheng Han leaped at Xiang and started savagely beating him his face was turned into a bloody pulp. Once Xiang was reduced to a whimpering mess, Cheng straightened himself up and said, "Alright, now that we have that out of the way..."
Sergeant Tang hopped down from the observation post and came sprinting over. He asked, "What was this about?"
"He talked back out of turn Drill Sergeant," Cheng smiled.
"Very well, finish him. Then clean the field before the next battle." Sergeant Tang stood up and returned to the observation stand at a slow walk. Cheng shrugged and then reached down breaking his neck cleanly. The other members of Xiang's followers didn't so much as speak a word.
Cheng smiled and said, "Roper, would you be so good as to get the coroner for us?" One of the taller recruits nodded and took off to the coroner as Cheng continued, "As I was saying before someone interrupted me, Wang I want you to carry the flag. You'll take it down the right flank with Jiang and Xiao Ju. The rest of you will head down the left flank and attack the blue base quietly, stay undercover until you are detected and then create as large as a distraction as you can. I'm going down the middle, Jiang you'll keep your eyes on me, if I signal you, bring the flag to me."
A short time later the coroner flew out with a maglev cart and loaded up the body. Roper returned and was sent to the left flank with the flag team.
On the blue team side, Long Shen gathered everyone and said, "Looks like someone grew a pair on the other team. Ok, this time we'll go with a traditional approach, scouts run up the flanks, everyone else, to the center, when the scouts spot the flag, we all go that direction. We're bringing the flag with us this time."
The horn sounded Long Shen sent his scouts and then waited for them to get moving before he sent his main body of forces on a slow march up the center. Cheng Han who was sprinting up the middle suddenly saw the mass of troops coming and signaled to Jiang to retreat to the base. Jiang misunderstood and brought the flag bearers out to the center. Cheng's attack force was spotted by a scout and acted as a decoy running back to the blue base causing Cheng's attackers to sprint after him.
The red flag was quickly taken by the overwhelming forces of the blue team. Lieutenant Dan jumped down with his Sergeants just behind. He walked out to find a defeated red team apologizing to Cheng Han. "Team Leader Cheng, your squad lost, you men will give us two thousand pushups and twenty laps. Tell me, what was the point of bringing your flag to the center when you saw the blue team's force in the center?"
"Sir, I signaled for my flag team to retreat, but my orders prior to the start of the match were to wait for my signal to come to the center. I didn't leave enough room for latitude." He looked down.
"I see, well, that was the right order to give, you'll do better next time. Your squad didn't respect you yet at the start of the battle, that's where you failed. You need to earn that respect, don't be afraid to crack some heads to earn it. You lost today against overwhelming forces. Cultivate, grow stronger. When we next battle it will be as a platoon. Squad 47 and 48 will be teammates. Today's weakness will be tomorrow's strength." Lieutenant Dan stood and then turned to his Sergeants, "Sergeants, take your squads."
Sergeant Xian looked at Long Shen and said, "Take them for a quick jog, then meet me at the weapons field."
Sergeant Tang looked at Cheng Han and said, "Alright, you heard the Lieutenant, two thousand pushups."
Cheng Han dropped down and started counting out pushups, he didn't even look at the squad to make sure they were all down. Behind him, he heard the rest counting them out at his pace. Once the last pushup was done. Cheng Han stood up and said, "Twenty laps, everyone on me." He then started a quick jog. Once again he didn't look back to make sure everyone was together. The rest of the squad fell in behind him and matched his pace. Cheng Han remembered seeing Squad 48 chanting as they ran so decided to come up with his own chant, "Four Seven, never quit!" He called out, "Four Seven!"
The squad answered a moment later, "Never quit!" They ran all twenty laps using the chant the entire time. Even recruit Jiang was able to finish the last lap at the pace set by Cheng.
Sergeant Tang was called into Lieutenant Dan's office who didn't look up from his table and just stated flatly, "I told you to pick the worst person on your squad."
Sergeant Tang winced and then said, "Statistically, he was the worst person on my squad."
Lieutenant Dan smirked at him and shook his head, "He's a smart kid, but he needs to be shaped. 47 wasn't going to win with that disadvantage we gave them today, so I am not worried about that. Getting rid of that Xiang prick will clean that squad up nicely so even though you didn't follow the intent of the Captain's plan you got the results that will lead to their improvement. Out of the two squads, Cheng has the potential to be second best. He was clearly tanking for some reason. He was put in that squad to be their alpha dog, his reluctance to be the leader is what caused your issues. The Captain was hoping he would take the lead today after seeing that Jiang kid getting ridiculed."
Sergeant Tang nodded and said, "I think someone convinced him that he could wash out and return to civilian life."
Lieutenant Dan looked surprised, "The Cheng family should know better than most. Someone in that family must have wanted him dead. I'll note the file for the inquisition. They'll want to look into that family's situation. Some of those elite families can be sick from the inside fighting over mortal wealth. So what did you think of Long?"
"He's the real deal. Xiang won the lottery this recruiting class." Sergeant Tang nodded, "I heard he was reluctant to fight his squad at first."
Lieutenant Dan nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Xiang caught him practicing late one night, couldn't believe his eyes. He practices a martial art no one has seen before. We all watched the recordings. It ended up being sent to headquarters to see if any of the specialists can figure out which art he uses. Someone there said it reminded them of one of the fake arts like Dragon."
"Dragon? Like from the movies? Wow, if he uses that art and is able to take out people using real martial arts he really is a genius." Sergeant Tang shook his head and chuckled.
Lieutenant Dan nodded in agreement, "Back in the ancient times before there were real cultivation techniques and martial arts, there were a lot of these fake martial arts spread around. It wasn't until the Angelic arrived on Earth that the Lord's true techniques were given. Anything prior to that is just garbage. The mortal world still has them floating around though, maybe Long learned that style and combined it with a real cultivation technique." He shrugged. "Alright, I'll let you get back to your squad, what I want from you is to get those men trained up. They need to be at the fourth level. The Angelic don't want anymore third level soldiers. If they can't make the cut, give them desk jobs. Even Cheng. If the entire squad washes out, decommission them. Dismissed."
"Sir, yes sir." He saluted crisply and headed out the door. He didn't want to decommission the squad, there was nothing worse that could happen to a Drill Sergeant. It meant he had failed his squad.