196: Chapter 196 If you can't run yourself to death, keep running.

First, five kilometers; for these members of the Iron Blood Special Forces, it was still just a warm-up.

Their usual training started at ten kilometers.

After finishing five kilometers, these members of the Iron Blood Special Forces were only slightly out of breath.

Soon they reached ten kilometers, and they were still able to continue.

Twenty kilometers. By now, their pace was not fast, and the faces of these members of the Iron Blood Special Forces were flushed red.

Cold air poured into their lungs, and they felt the cold wind making their lungs ache.

They gritted their teeth and were still able to keep running behind the main force.

Thirty-five kilometers. They were so tired they couldn't speak at all, and their pace had slowed down significantly.

Every step felt as if their legs were filled with lead.

Every step was extremely difficult.

They could only barely keep up with the main force.

With a thud, Zhao Cheng heard someone fall behind him.

But he dared not turn back, because if he did, he feared he would lose the willpower to continue moving forward.

Without a doubt, some of his team members had fallen.

Zhao Cheng was still gritting his teeth because the Chinese Soldiers of the 113th Division not far ahead were still running.

Even if some of them fell, those people kept running.

They did not look back, but ran forward with indomitable spirit.

Forty kilometers.

Moving his lead-filled legs, Zhao Cheng felt his vision blurring.

Along the way, he didn't know how many of the Iron Blood Special Forces members behind him had fallen.

He could no longer count, because he had no extra thoughts to spare on anything else.

At this moment, Zhao Cheng had only one thought in his mind: to keep running forward.

"Thud."

Another sound of someone falling.

When Zhao Cheng heard this sound, it was as if a string in his heart had snapped.

He immediately fell to his knees on the ground.

Once he fell, he no longer had the strength to stand up, and he suddenly lost the motivation to keep running forward.

"Stop running; this is simply an impossible mission."

"That's right, how could this be a mission that an ordinary person could complete?"

"Look at how many teammates have run themselves to death behind us? This is a distance that is impossible to complete."

"Give up..."

These voices kept echoing in Zhao Cheng's mind.

"No..."

Zhao Cheng gritted his teeth, wanting to stand up.

But his momentum was spent; it was almost impossible for him to stand up again.

"Cap, Captain, I'll help you."

Just when Zhao Cheng was about to give up, a voice suddenly rang out beside him.

At this moment, someone supported his arm.

Zhao Cheng exerted force once more, and with the help of the support, he stood up from the ground.

"Captain, let's keep running."

"Okay." Zhao Cheng replied, then continued to stride forward.

Only his speed was very slow.

He was limping as he walked.

Inside the virtual conference hall, seeing this scene, the Old Generals present were all moved.

This was already forty kilometers.

In their view, being able to run this far was enough to fully prove how strong the willpower of Zhao Cheng and his team was.

This had already broken the record of the entire Chinese military.

It took eight hours to run forty kilometers.

An average of five kilometers per hour.

And this was on rugged mountain roads; some of these paths were on the edge of cliffs, and others were uphill.

A moment of carelessness could easily lead to falling off a cliff or rolling down a hillside.

And now, Zhao Cheng's persistence moved them even more.

As for the Chinese Soldiers running in front, they did not believe that there was really a unit capable of running over seventy kilometers in fourteen hours.

Zhou Yang took in the expressions and reactions of the Old Generals around him.

It was understandable that they didn't believe it.

After all, this was the world's peak light infantry.

After this record was created, no other unit could break it.

Even the Chinese military of later generations was the same.

No one dared to imagine how this unit managed to run these 145 li within fourteen hours.

How much willpower must one have to persist until the end?

Not to mention, running these 145 li was just the beginning.

Afterward, they still needed to withstand the attack of the well-equipped and peak-condition U.S. IX Corps.

And block the U.S. IX Corps at Samso-ri.

Zhou Yang returned his gaze to the virtual projection screen.

At this moment, after persisting for a few hundred meters, Zhao Cheng finally fell to the ground.

If he had held on to his breath and kept running forward, perhaps he really could have finished the entire course.

But he lost his momentum midway.

Once he lost his momentum, he couldn't finish this stretch of the road.

After all the Iron Blood Special Forces members fell, none of them had finished the entire course.

The mission ultimately failed.

Zhao Cheng's vision went black, and when he could see the screen clearly again, they had already returned to the starting point.

At this moment, they discovered that the fatigue on their bodies had all disappeared.

It was as if the forty kilometers they had run before had never happened.

Zhao Cheng looked at the Iron Blood Special Forces members behind him.

At this time, many of the Iron Blood Special Forces members lowered their heads in shame.

Because many of the Iron Blood Special Forces members had fallen at over thirty kilometers.

They had not kept up with their teammates' pace and had fallen behind them.

There were even some Iron Blood Special Forces members who had given up on purpose.

Because they believed this mission was almost impossible to complete, and if they kept running like this, they would be the ones suffering in the end.

However, upon seeing Zhao Cheng and other teammates still persisting in running forward, their hearts were filled with shame.

They had chosen to give up, not to persist.

Zhao Cheng looked at these team members behind him; he did not say anything blaming them.

Instead, he looked at them with a firm gaze and then said, "Brothers, let's try again."

"This time, we will follow in the middle of them."

"We must dare to break through our own limits, to break through our own possibilities."

Zhao Cheng now understood what this military soul willpower was; he thought of the short film at the very beginning.

Nothing is impossible; even if they were to die, they should die on the path of persistence.

The reason they didn't finish just now was because they had lost the heart to persist.

They lacked the courage to press forward and break through their limits.

However, it was not too late to pick up the heart of persistence and the courage to break through limits again.

"Yes." Hearing Zhao Cheng's words, all the Iron Blood Special Forces members now had a surge of determination in their hearts.

Zhao Cheng led them to catch up with the main force.

This time, they were not walking at the very back.

They were walking in the middle.

"Brothers, start running! Target: Samso-ri! Do not stop!"

With a shout, Zhao Cheng and the group of Iron Blood Special Forces members started running.

They followed alongside these Chinese Soldiers, keeping pace with them.

At this moment, these Iron Blood Special Forces members were not thinking of anything else; they had only one goal, and that was to run to Samso-ri.

Ten kilometers.

Twenty kilometers.

Thirty kilometers.

Soon they reached the distance they had run last time, and this time, no one fell behind.

They were all gritting their teeth and persisting.

As the most elite members of the Iron Blood Special Forces.

They had their own pride in their hearts.

Previously, they were arrogant and thought it was impossible, but now they had put away the contempt in their hearts.

And treated these Chinese Soldiers beside them as real, living people.

Since these ordinary Chinese Soldiers could do it, why couldn't they?