Another abrupt shout carried over.
"This kid must have learned before! His swing technique is stronger than ours! Ah, if only I could swing like that..."
Hao Chengbin followed the voice and saw it was Jiang Peng.
This guy with higher vocational education... just can't admit someone else's strengths; such a deeply ingrained defect.
"Thirty-four! Hold on for one more!"
"Thirty-five!"
Hao Chengbin saw Fang Huai was almost at his limit, and couldn't help but toss away his cigarette butt, shouting loudly.
"Fang Huai, give me two more!"
The smile on Fang Huai's face was starting to look ugly, just like Cao Peng's earlier.
He still had some strength left... but his hands were sweaty, making it hard to grip the bar!
Fang Huai gritted his teeth, shifted his hands to the side a bit to find a drier spot, and made a strong swing.
"Thirty-six!"
"Thir... seven?"
Fang Huai could no longer hold on and came off the bar.
The voice of Squad Six Leader came over: "Squad Leader Hao, he didn't go over the bar on that last one, does it count?"
Hao Chengbin could see it too, barely a miss.
"Let it be, just count it as thirty-six."
Fang Huai got off the bar, took a breath, and returned to Hao Chengbin's side, wearing an odd smile on his face.
"Squad leader, the bar is indeed too slippery to get a good grip."
"That's fine!" Hao Chengbin was quite pleased: "You still got energy? Want to try the parallel bars?"
Fang Huai shook his head: "I plan to go again in the second round. I'll rest for a while. I gave up the first round directly... that's okay, right?"
Hao Chengbin nodded: "Alright, rest during the first round! Follow your strategy! And don't bother with the pull-up bar in the second round either, let's see how you do on the parallel bars!"
"You little rascal, not bad, huh?" Fang Huai's back got patted.
Turning around, Fang Huai saw it was Xiang Zhiyuan, his previous life's squad leader.
"Squad Leader Hao, this guy was transferred from our squad, do his scores count for us?" Xiang Zhiyuan said with a laugh.
Hao Chengbin immediately frowned and said: "Xiang, when you were picking soldiers, you complained about this one's accent or that one's height affecting the formation during training, and I took them all in.
Now, the tallest in my squad is Lu Zexian at 184, and the shortest, look over there at Sun Lianhai; how short is he? A 20 cm difference from front to back!
During the Squad Leader Training, Old Black agreed that new recruits would be my pick first, right? I've been cleaning up after you guys, and only picked this one soldier, who actually wanted to follow me voluntarily. You dare to have complaints?"
Xiang Zhiyuan looked disgruntled and stopped talking.
Fang Huai couldn't help but chuckle, then quickly composed himself.
But Pan Zhaohui noticed and took the opportunity to point at Fang Huai: "Lad, what are you laughing at? You were laughing when you got on the bar just now, mocking me?"
Fang Huai was taken aback.
Did he inadvertently trigger the mockery skill again?
"No, squad leader... it's what our squad leader said this morning! He told us to smile during training! He said... to approach it with optimism!"
Hao Chengbin was also stunned, then burst out laughing.
"Right! Why listen to him? The tougher the training, the more you should laugh! You are a soldier of our squad; just listen to me!"
Upon hearing this, Pan Zhaohui also laughed, spitting out: "Old ghost, your ability to sicken people is truly fucking first-rate!"
"Hahaha..."
The other squad leaders, who didn't understand what was going on, also started laughing.
...
[Task Completion.]
Right after completing the second round of pull-ups, Fang Huai received the system prompt.
He couldn't help but feel elated.
This suggested that the results of the second round might also be counted separately.
There was no helping it; Battalion Commander Zhang seemed to feel he had lost face, and during the parallel bars, he stubbornly did 25 reps before coming down.
Twenty-five reps weren't high. On the parallel bars, as long as one had enough strength, it was possible to slightly lean on the bars and rest by switching hands. After leaving the army, the impressive new recruits from their time could last more than a hundred reps during practice.
But the parallel bars also required the pectoralis major to exert force in coordination, and that was quite draining. Fang Huai didn't have much confidence and could only rapidly shake his hands to try and recover quickly.
However, he was getting significantly better treatment than before. Squad Nine's new recruits saw him as the hope to suppress Battalion Commander Zhang. Zhao Bing, instead, became a middle-of-the-pack horse, and after doing their parallel bars, Yue Tao and Sun Lianhai took positions to his left and right, rubbing his shoulders.
"Huai brother, you have to fight hard! Surpass Squad Eight!"
Yue Tao looked toward the distant Pan Zhaohui, whispering as he rubbed.
He hadn't taken Pan Zhaohui's kick seriously in the morning, but Pan's sarcastic comments in front of everyone about getting hit had really irked him, which was why he gave it his all during pull-ups and surprisingly came in fourth for the squad.
"Hey, don't harbor such resentment. Without him provoking, could our squad have pulled with all our might? Could you have done 5 pull-ups and 3 parallel bars?"
Fang Huai didn't want to reveal that the two old ghosts might have been deliberately doing a double act, to prevent this guy from blabbing about it everywhere.
Anyone who should understand, would understand.
"I know! But he also talked about our squad leader! We can't show weakness!"
Fang Huai laughed and patted Yue Tao on the head, teasingly.
"Yeah, so loyal. I'll pass your words to the squad leader, asking him to appoint you as the Crown Prince. That's it; I need to get on the bar now."
Having said that, he shook his hands and headed to the ready area.
Yue Tao was stunned and looked at Sun Lianhai.
"Damn, what did he mean by that?"
Sun Lianhai chuckled: "He's saying you're the squad leader's favorite big son!"
"Fang Huai, fuck your mom!!"
...
The moment he got on the bars, the result was far beyond Fang Huai's expectations.
The foundation of the parallel bars was not stable; some squad leaders helped steady the bars. Since Fang Huai wasn't very broad-shouldered, it wasn't too strenuous to practice.
And he could play it smart, take shortcuts.
By slightly lowering his arms and bowing his head, he could easily get a count for a rep.
When he came down from the bars, Fusn Huai had ground out a full fifty reps, receiving his second Task Completion prompt.