9: Chapter 9 Guard Members

Wang Ting took the lead and ultimately managed to run two more laps than the others, arriving at the five-kilometer finish line ahead of time.

Bang!

He tossed the log stump onto the ground, smashing out a small pit.

Only a bit of sweat seeped from his temples, and although he was slightly panting, his body still contained abundant strength.

'If we talk solely about physical constitution now, I should be a bit stronger than the average special forces soldier.'

Although he had not truly compared himself, judging from his state after the weighted long-run, he had a rough answer in his heart.

He adjusted his breathing and watched as the team still running laps gradually caught up. Although someone had caused trouble at the very beginning, the ones from Barns 1-3 who could ultimately complete this weighted run were, in all probability, that batch of people.

[Remember this site domain name, look for Chao Shun Chang for smooth reading]

Fu Xing, Ding Yu, He Chong, Huang Han, and others followed one after another. They were nearly identical to each other, but about seven or eight minutes slower than Wang Ting.

When the first forty all arrived, Zhao Hu's voice came over: "Forty is already enough. Everyone else, tidy up and return to the formation."

Among the forty people who had reached the finish line, most looked panting and drenched in sweat, with some even having pale faces.

Zhao Hu and the others didn't care about this. They came down from the watchtower, their footsteps making a clacking sound on the hard yellow mud ground, and the Guard Team members followed them to form two columns.

Fan Da did not come down; he stood on the watchtower overlooking the crowd.

"Ten minutes of rest, then sparring starts."

Given only ten minutes of rest time, some people's expressions immediately turned even uglier.

How could ten minutes be enough to recover?

But no one cared about their thoughts, because this in itself was part of the evaluation.

Physical fitness, combat, willpower, and petty cleverness were all part of the evaluation...

They were just selecting personnel to supplement the team, not conducting a completely fair selection.

"Bastard, if you run into me later, I'll let you know how tough I am."

He Chong stood not far from Wang Ting, still breathing heavily, but his complexion was alright; ten minutes might allow him to recover quite well.

However, he currently looked covered in dust, and his cheeks were even scraped raw with blood seeping out, making him look particularly disheveled.

"Are you stronger than the Scarecrow?"

A single sentence choked He Chong so much that he couldn't speak, yet the fierce look in his eyes did not disappear.

Wang Ting's collision had forged a grudge. He Chong was naturally a vengeful person, so how could he let it go now?

As for Wang Ting killing the Scarecrow alone?

Stop joking around. Even people at the captain level might not be able to take down the Scarecrow without injury in short-weapon combat; just him?

"Wang Ting versus He Chong, Fu Xing versus Sun Litian..."

There was no such thing as drawing lots for sparring; opponents were announced directly.

Upon hearing this matchup list, He Chong's gaze grew even more eager to try.

Settle scores where there are grudges, and air grievances where there are grievances.

He refused to believe that someone like him, who had stayed in the barn for two terms and had even learned some combat techniques, couldn't beat this guy?

Wang Ting was calm instead, but beneath this calmness, he was rapidly pondering how he should fight.

His physical fitness was good, but in his past life, he was just a proper college student. Aside from casual military boxing and the soft Baduanjin, he really didn't know how to fight.

"It seems I can only charge in recklessly."

With the announcement of the 40-person list, pairs quickly began to spar.

Dust flew across the mud field as they probed, entangled, and then rolled together directly, fighting into a ball with punches landing solidly on flesh.

Not everyone in the barn knew combat techniques; there were plenty of people throwing savage punches and kicks blindly, and physical stamina would gain the upper hand at this time.

Huang Han had a sturdy build, with muscles bulging like iron blocks, resembling an entire black bear. Protecting vital areas like his head and neck, he took hits while closing in on his opponent.

His opponent was someone from Barn 1, standing at 1.7 meters tall and much shorter than him. Although his agile footstep showed he had certain combat skills, fists thumped onto Huang Han's body, causing him sharp pain.

But as Huang Han continuously closed in and grabbed him with one hand, the battle ended quickly. Huang Han, who had been enduring the beating, erupted, swinging his large fist in a full arc downwards, and soon that person patted the ground to surrender.

'A very wise choice. If you can't break free, directly admitting defeat is better than getting injured.'

During his observation, Wang Ting discovered that such situations were actually quite common.

Everyone was like a beast. Even in a brawl concerning their future, they would avoid getting injured in combat as much as possible rather than acting recklessly.

The law of the jungle does not need injured beasts, and the wasteland is no exception.

Injury won't get you killed on the spot, but it will make things infinitely difficult for you.

Soon it was Wang Ting and He Chong's turn.

The two stepped onto the field one after another, the dust from the previous bout not yet fully dissipated.

"It's still not too late for you to surrender now."

Rubbing his hands, He Chong's advice was more like a provocation. He was like a hyena about to hunt, provoking and teasing its prey to prevent them from escaping easily.

"Let's begin. After all, you provoked me first."

When Wang Ting looked at He Chong, there was an inexplicable meaning in his eyes, which gave He Chong a slight bad feeling in his heart.

"Begin!"

As the match was announced to start, both of them moved into action.

He Chong adopted an offensive posture, but the next moment a dark shadow rushed towards him, wrapping around his waist with a bang.

He abruptly realized this was Wang Ting, and struck twice with elbow blows onto his back with a thud-thud.

But this heavy blow didn't make Wang Ting retract his strength at all, nor did Wang Ting make any other extra moves. He mustered all his strength with only one goal: to knock He Chong down.

A surge of brute force emanated from Wang Ting's body, causing He Chong to instantly lose his balance, and his entire body was overturned to the ground by Wang Ting's raw strength.

With a muffled thud, the two fell to the ground, and Wang Ting firmly pinned He Chong beneath him.

He Chong went crazy; he continuously attacked Wang Ting's joints, trying to break free.

But Wang Ting looked very much like a brutal beast. Without any technique or moves, he pinned him to the ground and then fiercely swung his fists to punch his face.

The muffled thudding punches sounded like beating drums. Within just a few punches, He Chong was beaten dizzy and hurriedly patted the ground.

"Alright, alright. Wang Ting wins."

Zhao Hu spoke up to stop them. At this moment, the gaze he cast at Wang Ting was truly bizarre to the extreme.

Even children fighting had some rules—choking when they should choke, tangling when they should tangle. As for this guy, he had zero technique, only brute force, directly tackling and fiercely going at it.

Wang Ting stood up, covered in dust, but his gaze seemed to burn with a flame. The ferocity in his bones made him look very much like a beast at this moment.

His body was now certainly covered in bruises and scars from He Chong's blows, but He Chong underneath him was even more miserable; half of his face had already begun to swell.

"Vicious enough. Once you join the team, learn combat properly."

Zhao Hu patted his shoulder, and the stirred-up dust almost blinded his own eyes.

"Alright."

The first round of combat quickly decided twenty people. Aside from unlucky fellows like He Chong, basically those eliminated were people whose physical strength and combat abilities were barely passable.

After the five-kilometer weighted run, people who lacked physical stamina couldn't possibly recover much in ten minutes.

The earlier someone reached the finish line, the better rest they could get.

The second round began. Wang Ting's opponent had just stepped onto the field and shivered upon seeing him, hurriedly saying: "I surrender."

He didn't think he was stronger than He Chong, and if he were really heavily pounded by those swinging fists a few times, he probably wouldn't be able to endure it.

Soon the final few people were selected. Wang Ting, Fu Xing, Ding Yu, Huang Han, Li Meng, Hu Kang, and ten others became members of the Guard Team.

"Clack, clack, clack"

Fan Da came down from the watchtower, glanced around, and then said: "Wang Ting, Fu Xing, Li Meng, Huang Han, and Hu Kang will follow Zhao Hu, and the remaining five will follow Wei Dong. Each Guard Team member gets 10 energy blocks per day, and can earn work points by executing missions to exchange for other supplies. But the premise to all of this is that you keep up with the pace and also stay alive. Training starts tomorrow."

"Yes."