Fang Huai was cursing under his breath.
"Old Pan is skilled enough to be one of the 'Cloud' generation monks with that ability to harm others."
The new recruits from Squad Eight began to cheer as they saw Zhao Bing of Squad Nine fall behind by five.
"Is there still hope?"
Jiang Peng, behind him, was rubbing his hands together and looking at Fang Huai ahead, imagining himself as the last-minute hero coming to save Squad Nine.
"This doesn't look so difficult! Just swing back and forth, about twenty or so times."
He just didn't know about swinging before!
As a higher vocational education graduate, he realized at a glance that this was all about the principle of mechanics! Inertia! Newton's... which law was it again?
In fact, Jiang Peng was the first to go.
Fang Huai had secretly cut in line to talk to Zhao Bing, and on the roster, he was several names behind Jiang Peng.
...
"Jiang Peng! Get ready for the bar!"
Jiang Peng glared, pointing at Fang Huai toward the Squad Six Leader.
The meaning was clear: there were still people in front who hadn't gone up!
He was planning to be the grand finale!
Hao Chengbin wouldn't have known about these little schemes, or he would have cursed: claiming to be the finale, my ass.
"When I say go up, you go up! What are you dawdling for?!" Hao Chengbin, arms crossed, shouted loudly.
Hu Deli, who was in front of Jiang Peng and, like Zhao Peng, was a Rural Soldier accustomed to physical labor at home, also held his high hopes. However, when he went up, he just swung back and forth aimlessly for half a day like a wriggling maggot, wasting his strength and managing only three pulls.
That earned him another mocking from Pan Zhaohui.
"Old Hao, these new recruits of yours are almost growing muscles in their brains. I've seen recruits swing for years, even in reverse, but this is the first time I've seen anything like that. Was he trying to swing forward from the front? That's not even how you do a giant swing!"
Hao Chengbin wasn't one to be outdone in banter.
"Hmph, if it was a standard assessment based purely on dead hangs, I doubt more than two of your guys could outperform Hu Deli! All their brains are only good for chicken-stealing!"
As he spoke, Jiang Peng went on the bar.
The first swing was high, almost above the neck, showing good explosive strength.
"Good!" the Squad Six Leader praised.
Jiang Peng gradually became lost.
The second was also quite high.
Hao Chengbin realized something was off and shouted loudly, "Why are you swinging so high? Conserve your energy! Focus on continuity!"
But it was too late, and his words actually threw off Jiang Peng's rhythm a bit, leading to fatigue by the seventh swing.
Barely managing ten, his face turned red with the effort of the tenth.
"Another one without a brain." Old Pan crossed his arms, delivering his verdict.
Chen Zhongqiang did four, and Yue Tao actually managed five.
Peng Yingqirui scored none, but the woozy look on his face when he came down showed that he had given it his all.
"Squad leader, we're at 43 now, right? The remaining few probably won't score much," said Fang Huai.
Hao Chengbin glanced at the roster in his hand, which tallied the numbers, and nodded.
"How many does Squad Eight have? How many do we need to catch up?" Fang Huai continued.
"Pfft... How many are you planning to make up for?" Old Pan twisted his mouth. "Our squad has sixty-six!"
Sixty-six to forty-three, the advantage is mine.
The voice of the Squad Six Leader timely came, "Liu Yue, get ready! Next up, Fang Zhui!"
"...Report to the squad leader! Fang Huai! Huai, as in the Huaihai Campaign!" Fang Huai was frustrated.
Damn... Fang Zhui, and I'm a cone now.
People from Guizhou, born sharp, only recognize half the character.
...
"Fang Huai! Get ready for the bar!"
Fang Huai stepped forward, raised his hand... tiptoed, and wiped his hands on the bar, then rubbed them on his clothes.
Old Pan laughed loudly, "Quite the procedure for getting on the bar!"
Fang Huai ignored him, raised his hand and said, "Ready!"
"Get on the bar!"
The first, second, third...
Hao Chengbin and Pan Zhaohui sensed that something was not right.
"This guy's from Chongqing, right? Did you pick him up? Have you been feeding him extra rations?"
Pan Zhaohui began looking for external factors.
You didn't need to see someone exhaust their strength to know if they could do pull-ups. The momentum of pulling off seven or eight in one go showed their level clearly.
Definitely not inferior to Zhang Yizhang!
And that smile on his face was really… asking for a smack.
What the hell are you smiling at while doing pull-ups? Smiling at what?
At me?
Old Pan felt tricked, growing more irritated as he watched, with the count getting louder as they reached fifteen.
"Twenty!" Yue Tao exclaimed excitedly.
The rest in the parallel bars section turned their heads to look, and even the squad leaders were surprised.
Another twenty? There are only four squads, six, seven, eight, nine! Just four! In previous years, during the first physical training, an average of only two or three people per company could reach twenty pull-ups!
"Twenty-three! Fang Huai, keep going, you've surpassed Zhao Bing!"
"He still has energy left, look he's still smiling! The momentum isn't lost!"
"Awesome... ah!"
The new recruits began discussing this dark horse.
By now, Pan Zhaohui had already lost, and it was time for his old face to come off and be pocketed.
Hao Chengbin, on the other hand, was wearing a smile, watching the figure on the bar, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lighting one up.
As he took a puff, the count reached twenty-eight.
Mumbling in his dialect, he said, "Truly J... damn hard working, really good."
"Old squad leader, you going to smoke that all by yourself?" A few squad leaders had already come over.
Snapping out of it, Hao Chengbin gave a grin, glanced at the crowd around him, and pulled out a few black-tipped Hard Zun cigarettes from the box, handing them out, "Just so happens I have a few Fu Gui left, confiscated them from new recruits, you guys have one."
Old Pan grew even more annoyed at the sight of the cigarettes, "Damn, Old Hao, you're puffing away, leaving me out? Fine, fine, I'll go buy some for you right now!"
"Thirty! Thirty! Squad Nine is definitely in the lead now!" No one in Squad Nine knew the total for both squads, but they were all convinced that this time, it was in the bag!