81: Chapter 81

Afternoon, the training ground.

The scorching sun hung high in the sky, and the air seemed to be burning.

Countless students were wilted and listless from the heat, but the atmosphere in the third phalanx was bizarre in the extreme.

Everyone craned their necks, stealing glances at the figure standing at the very front of the phalanx with eyes mixed with fear, curiosity, and gossip.

Qin Feng.

He was dressed in a crisp training uniform, his hands clasped behind his back, his posture like a spear, his face as calm as still water.

He didn't do anything, just stood there quietly, yet an invisible pressure enveloped the entire phalanx.

Especially Shen Youchu; she felt like her heart was about to jump out of her throat.

She stood in the first row of the formation, closest to Qin Feng.

She could smell the faint scent of a man on him, mixed with sweat and sunshine.

Her palms were sweating from nervousness.

She was waiting.

Waiting for him to speak, waiting for his "special treatment" of her.

Finally, Qin Feng moved.

He paced slowly, from the first row of the formation to the last, like a lone wolf patrolling its territory.

Everyone held their breath.

Finally, his footsteps stopped in front of Shen Youchu.

"Step out."

The voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

It's here!

Shen Youchu's heart trembled, and suppressing her inner tension, she stepped out.

Qin Feng looked at her, his face devoid of any expression.

"You, why are you smiling?"

"I... I didn't."

Shen Youchu knew she had been falsely accused!

"Did I tell you to smile?" Qin Feng's voice rose sharply.

"No..."

"If not, what are you smiling at?"

"I..."

"Answer me!"

"Report, Instructor! I was wrong!"

Shen Youchu was startled by his sudden display of authority and subconsciously stood at attention to answer.

Qin Feng circled her, unhurriedly.

"Do you know you were wrong?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Since you know you were wrong, you must accept punishment."

There was not a trace of warmth in Qin Feng's voice.

"Everyone else, rest in place for ten minutes. You, run ten laps around the training ground. Now, immediately, execute!"

Boom!

The entire phalanx instantly erupted.

Ten laps!

One lap around this training ground is 400 meters!

Ten laps is four kilometers!

And in such a scorching sun!

This is fucking lethal!

Everyone looked at Shen Youchu with sympathetic eyes; this wasn't special treatment, it was clearly pushing her to the brink of death!

Shen Youchu was also dumbfounded.

She looked at Qin Feng in disbelief, feeling angry but helpless.

"Report, Instructor... I..."

Shen Youchu wanted to plead for mercy.

"Twenty laps."

Qin Feng interrupted her, his voice as cold as ice.

Shen Youchu instantly shut her mouth.

She didn't dare to speak again.

She was afraid that if she said one more word, it would become thirty laps, forty laps...

Gritting her teeth, she glanced at Qin Feng's cold face, and finally turned around, starting off with heavy steps.

It must be this way!

He is testing me!

He is using this way to declare to everyone that I am his!

Only I am qualified to receive his most rigorous training!

The more he torments me, the more it proves he loves me!

Having realized this, Shen Youchu's footsteps instantly became much lighter.

She even felt that the scorching sun had become gentle.

Watching Shen Youchu's "spirited" back, the students in the phalanx were completely stirred up.

"Damn! I've really seen something today! How could we have thought that the beautiful Shen was enjoying it?"

"First kill the love rival to establish authority, then become an instructor to take power, then abuse the goddess to death, making her love and hate him, unable to stop! This is textbook PUA!"

"More than just PUA, this is imperial strategy! Look at Shen Youchu, punished to run ten kilometers, yet she still has a sweet look on her face. If this isn't developing feelings from being abused, what is?"

"I've figured it out. Qin Feng is the type of person who either doesn't do something or takes it to the extreme."

"He's not being a simp, he's taming a beast!"

"Taming a proud peacock into a fawning lapdog!"

"A role model for men! I announce that from today on, Qin Feng is my life mentor! I'm going to write him into my family genealogy!"

Over an hour later.

Shen Youchu collapsed on the finish line like a dehydrated dead fish.

Her throat was filled with the taste of blood, and her lungs felt like they had been scorched by fire.

She felt like she was about to die.

Just then, a pair of military boots stopped in front of her.

She lifted her head with great effort and saw Qin Feng's cold, stern face.

"Get up."

"I... I can't get up..."

Shen Youchu's voice was hoarse beyond recognition.

Qin Feng squatted down, leaned close to her ear, and said softly in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"Don't let me down."

After saying this, he stood up and walked towards the phalanx without looking back.

Leaving Shen Youchu alone, stunned in place.

Don't let him down...

Don't let him down!

She! She started convincing herself again!

These five words hit her heart like an electric current.

An unprecedented strength surged from her limbs and bones.

Gritting her teeth, using all her strength, she crawled up from the ground bit by bit.

She steadied herself, looking at Qin Feng's back from afar, her eyes filled with unprecedented determination.

I understand.

He is training my will!

He hopes I can become a woman worthy of him!

I cannot let him down!

Absolutely not!

...

From that day on, a strange sight appeared in the entire military training camp.

Qin Feng used all sorts of inconceivable methods to crazily torment Shen Youchu.

For the five-kilometer armed cross-country, everyone else was lightly equipped, only she had to carry a twenty-jin sandbag.

For the 400-meter obstacle course, others ran it once, she ran it ten times, until she vomited.

Practicing tactics in the mud pit, others crawled through once, she had to soak in it for an hour; when she came out, even her mother wouldn't recognize her.

Everyone felt that Qin Feng was crazy, and Shen Youchu was also crazy.

One abused her with insane cruelty, the other accepted the abuse with sweet willingness.

Whenever Shen Youchu was about to give up, Qin Feng would walk to her side and say to her in that cold voice, tinged with a hint of "expectation": "Not enough."

And Shen Youchu would instantly feel rejuvenated, as if injected with adrenaline, and continue to throw herself into even more brutal training.

She even began to enjoy this feeling of being abused.

She felt that every bit of pain was proof of Qin Feng's love for her.

Every drop of sweat was watering their twisted flower of love.

If one day Qin Feng reduced the intensity of her training, she would instead feel an inexplicable panic.

Has he lost interest in me?

Does he think I'm too weak and not worthy of being abused by him?

No! That cannot be!

I must become stronger!

Strong enough that he can't leave me, strong enough that he only wants to abuse me!