Chapter 63


    They practiced the formation in the afternoon till it was twenty past five, then everyone gathered and


    lined up, standing as straight as possible while Commander Ford nced at his watch.


    “I have already told you the rules. At half past five, you will start thest training of the day, and Cafeteria


    No. 2 opens at six o’clock sharp. Remember, the rice and meat are for the wolves, and as for dogs, they


    will only get to eat dirt!”


    All drill instructors,manders, and seniors were evacuated, and Nathan was led away as well. The


    remaining students stood still and neatly in the green field, and under the surveince of numerous


    surveince cameras, nobody dared to move.


    In front of the training ground, there was a clock tower that showed the standard time of Bayside City.


    Everyone was counting down, breathing heavily and ready to charge.


    Sophia looked at the time and counted down in silence.


    Three, two, one—


    When it was precisely half past five, the thousands of students headed toward Cafeteria No. 2. Clearly,


    the boys were ahead, especially those who were from the School of Athletics, for they went fast and


    furious.


    It only took a minute when a group of girls who were all graceful and delicate were left behind, and one


    after another, they started crying. Some of them lost control and they started to cry like babies.


    Sophia’s body was well-built, blending among the boys as she ran quickly. She ate a lot at lunch, so she


    was all energized. Furthermore, she worked out everyday, so the distance was nothing to her.


    The students rushed out of the training ground and ran ording to the road signs. Suddenly, there was


    a hill in front of them that was covered in a dense primary forest. Everyone was dumbfounded as they


    thought it was only an ordinary hill, but they didn’t expect it to be a forest!


    So it turned out that three kilometres was not the actual running distance, but the discement between


    the two points!


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    Also, there were two of the same hills like this ahead, and they needed to climb those two hills. So in


    total, that definitely exceeded three kilometres already.


    A tempting smell wafted from afar, and it seemed to be the smell of sauteed green pepper pork shreds.


    Everyone immediately judged the direction of Cafeteria No. 2 based on where the smell came from, and


    a group of students rushed up the hill hurriedly.


    The vegetation in the forest was not exactly that dense, and there was a clear path ahead while the


    altitude was not particrly high. The snakes and bugs were probably removed already, which made the


    running fairly easy. It was not dangerous at all, but it required a lot of physical exertion.


    Sophia and a group of men took the lead, and they were brimming with energy as they ran. Looking over


    her shoulder, she saw a sea of cadets in olive-drab and felt a sense of aplishment.


    Not far away, an asphalt road stretched into the mountains that meandered away from the hignds; a


    long line of cars were slowly moving on the road. Themanders and drill instructors were all in the


    cars, while Nathan sat next to Quinton and Commander Ford, drinking his soda.


    Joel, the Commanding General, was looking through his binocrs to check the situation. Sophia felt


    slightly guilty when she saw Commander Ford as he might notice she was pretending to be injured


    immediately if she were to run that so fast.


    Her main goal was to highlight her determination to train despite her injuries so she would get a high


    score. The result was not important, and it was the journey that mattered. After all, she had someone to


    cover for her, so she needn’t worry about starving herself.


    Therefore, she lowered her speed, and in a blink of an eye, she was swarmed over by the army of


    cadets and fell behind the group as she kept running at a constant speed.


    A group of girls were crying while they ran.


    Suddenly, she saw a familiar figure.


    Richard was pulling Ka with his left hand and X with his right while running up hill. It looked


    exceptionally difficult, and halfway through the run, X staggered and fell.


    “X!” Richard and Ka were forced to stop and help her.


    Ka looked at the everyone who ran past them. As they paused for a moment, they were already falling


    behind by a lot, and X was whining and refusing to walk, almost stomping her feet in anger.


    Sophia was running behind Ka, and subconsciously, she kicked her on the back. “F*ck you!”


    The din of the tumultuous footsteps had drowned her voice.


    Ka rolled down the hill, and she was covered in mud when she got up, looking like a poor tabby kitten.


    “Ahh!” She let out an earth-shattering scream, and when she nced back, she could only see a sea of


    army green, and the culprit was long gone.


    After entering the camp, Ka had been constantly feeling wound up. She had been spoiled all her life,


    and she had never suffered such grievances. The final shred of endurance in her finally snapped, and


    she burst into tears on the spot.


    “I don’t want to train in the military anymore! I want to quit! I want to quit school!”


    She sat there, crying and kicking like a baby, but her cries did not receive any sympathy in exchange.


    Along the way, there were too many girls who sat down and started crying.


    Richard picked up Ka. He knew the consequences of losing the military credit score, so he demanded


    angrily, “What are you saying? Come on!”


    He held on to them both and kept on running.


    He used to train in the military, and he knew the rules. As long as they continued to run, they would get


    to eat; only those who gave up would be given steamed buns.


    Military training was not as scary as it seemed.


    After kicking Ka, Sophia was extremely happy as she ran merrilly, but she tripped over something and


    fell down.


    “F*ck!”


    Sophia got and was about to continue running, but suddenly she realized that Commander Ford seemed


    to have noticed her, so she pretended to be wounded. She held her leg and acted as if she was


    ‘struggling’ for a while, appearing to be in pain.


    There were too many people who fell down, so no one would actually be bothered with her. Everyone


    was hungry, and there was only a little food. They couldn’t even take care of themselves, let alone


    someone else.


    Sophia rolled around and she was preparing to get up when suddenly, a tall boy and a short girl came


    over and picked her up in each hand.


    The short girl was panting. “Girl, what are you doing? Hurry up and fight for the food!”


    The tall boy looked exceptionally delicate. His lips were cherry red and his teeth were white, while his


    skin was fair and smooth. Furthermore, he stood at an impressive height of at least 180 centimetres.


    “Stop being in a daze. Come on!”


    Sophia was almost dragged along by the two.


    Sophia said, “Guys… I can still run. I can still run! Let go of me!”


    The three of them ran up the hill while panting heavily and in a blink of an eye, they arrived at the peak of


    the hill, then they started running downward. There was a ten-metre wide river in front of them, and there


    were two bridges, one each on the left and right hand side, but there was quite a distance. If they went


    through the bridge, it would add another one kilometre to the journey.


    Sophia started cursing. “F*ck!”


    Some looked at the deep emerald-green river as they stepped back and took a detour to cross the bridge


    over the river; some dived directly into the river and swam across. The drill instructors were patrolling


    along the river, just in case if anyone was drowning, so someone would be able to save them.


    Sophia exchanged a look with the girl. They then both asked simultaneously, “Can you swim?”


    After they asked the question, there was a three second pause. The two of them who were covered in


    dirt jumped into the river, leaving the boy alone by the shore as he shouted and jumped. “How could you


    do this? I am not going to jump! The water is so dirty. Hey! Wait for me—”


    In the end, he still had to jump into the river and swam as fast as he could. He soon caught up with the


    two girls in front of him. Although he was a sissy, he was still a man at the end of the day.


    When they trained in the afternoon, they were only wearing an army-green T-shirt that was very thin. So,


    there was no burden at all as they swam. As the three of them swam really quickly, they reached the


    opposite bank of the river in less than a minute. They took a breather by the river and prepared to hike


    the next hill.


    The river water had washed their faces, and the short girl recognized Sophia on the spot. “You are the


    Watermelon Queen, Sophia!”