Chapter 33 - Five-Kilometer Run

Translator: Li_Voon_Loke

After all, in the Military Academy, even the female soldiers trained a lot.

Therefore, it was hard to know what others’ hobbies were, let alone hearing it from someone else.

Zhao Rui arranged for Bai Xiaofei to secretly leak this information to Qian Jiang.

After studying in the evening, each team returned to their own dormitories. The lights-out signal sounded, and it was time to sleep.

Zhao Rui entered the King of Soldiers’ training space.

“There seems to be new physical training tomorrow. I should continue to train my physical strength. Zhao Rui began to practice cross-country running in the training space.”

Early the next morning, the sixth team gathered with the sound of a military whistle.

Everyone lined up. Instructor He shouted, “Everyone, stand at attention. At ease, look to the right, and report the number…”

One, two, three, four..

“Today, the training will be five kilometers of running! The time I give you today is twenty minutes. Begin!” Instructor He’s voice echoed throughout the field.

“However, once time is limited and speed is required, the difficulty will be greatly increased.”

In fact, Zhao Rui knew that half an hour was a normal speed for an ordinary adult man.

Although it might be tiring, it was definitely not difficult. However, the time given today was only twenty minutes. Needless to say, this was a very difficult task to complete.

“Ready, begin!” Following Instructor He’s command, everyone began to run.

With the intensity of Zhao Rui’s training in the training space, this was basically a piece of cake.

At the beginning, everyone was still in an orderly formation. Moreover, everyone’s speed was not bad.

But very quickly, a portion of the people started to feel that it was difficult to breathe, and their mouths and tongues were dry. Those with slightly higher physical stamina had already rushed to the front.

When Zhao Rui led the team to run one-third of the way, he noticed that Chi Heng and Qian Jiang were already behind. So he slowed down and turned back a distance.

Zhao Rui approached Chi Heng and said to him, “Chi Heng, do your best today. I’ll go take care of Qian Jiang.”

At this moment, Chi Heng was so tired that he couldn’t speak. He only waved his hands to indicate “yes”.

Then, he continued to maintain his breathing and ran forward.

The main reason Qian Jiang wanted to drop out of school was that he always lagged behind in training, dragging everyone down. If this problem could be solved, even if it was just slightly better than before, it might change his mentality.

Zhao Rui, who often ran, knew that with a person who could run leading,the team’s speed would be better. So he did everything he could to bring Qian Jiang to speed up.

Chi Heng had also been losing face in physical training recently, so he also looked up a lot of long-distance running methods. In long-distance running, rhythm was very important.

It felt completely different to run fast in the beginning and slow at the end than slow in the beginning and fast at the end. Every kilometer of speed control was very important. So Chi Heng planned to try out the theory that he had learned by himself in the past few days.

As he spoke, Zhao Rui turned around and saw Qian Jiang.

At this moment, Qian Jiang’s face was flushed red and he was panting from exhaustion, even though he was still gritting his teeth to persevere.

However, he had only run a little more than a kilometer, and he was already so tired.

It was a problem whether or not he could complete the run, let alone finishing within the stipulated time.

“Qian Jiang, keep your breathing steady, adjust your steps, and run with me!”

Qian Jiang was already feeling dizzy and couldn’t listen to Zhao Rui anymore.

Zhao Rui raised his decibel and said loudly, “Qian Jiang! Listen to me. Keep Your breathing steady. Run two steps and take a deep breath!”

Qian Jiang then began to adjust his breathing and rhythm according to Zhao Rui’s instructions.

It’s important to get the basics right. Although that would slow him down a little, once the rhythm was controlled, he would soon surpass some of the students whose breathing was more chaotic.

Some people were not actually physically weak. They just ran like a 100-meter sprint at the beginning, and soon their stamina ran out.

After more than a month of training, these people should have mastered it, but there were already a lot of people who can’t grasp the rhythm well.

Zhao Rui knew that as long as Qian Jiang can surpass a few of these people, he would be able to regain some confidence.

“Qian Jiang, follow my footsteps! Watch my footsteps! Don’t run around on your own!”

Qian Jiang slowed down his footsteps, and his entire body became a little more relaxed.

It wasn’t that difficult to listen to him anymore. Very soon, he began to adjust his pace and started to run with Zhao Rui. He ran as fast as Zhao Rui.

Of course, Zhao Rui also slowed down his pace. Today, he no longer intended to compete for the position.

Instructor He would definitely understand.

“Class monitor, I can’t run anymore. Really, you go ahead and sprint first. Don’t worry about me!” Qian Jiang waved his hand at Zhao Rui with exhaustion and apologised.

Zhao Rui looked ahead. Even Chi Heng and the others who ran slower had already left them behind.

If they did not put in more effort, it would be difficult for them to finish running in twenty-five minutes, let alone overtake others.

“Don’t give up. Come on, think about the soldier who saved you. Think about why you came to this school!” Zhao Rui decided to try to stimulate Qian Jiang.

As expected, Qian Jiang seemed to be affected by Zhao Rui’s words and sped up a little.

Zhao Rui continued to remind Qian Jiang of his steps and breathing. Just like that, the gap between Qian Jiang and the people in front of him narrowed a little.

However, when they were about three kilometers away, Qian Jiang’s speed was getting slower and slower.

Zhao Rui thought to himself, “Now I’m really at my wit’s end. I’ve already used all the methods I can think of.”

Qian Jiang’s physical fitness was really too poor. He could improve a little by changing his strategy and pacing. However, it was impossible to make a fundamental change.

“Class Monitor Zhao, you really don’t have to worry about me. I feel like I’ve improved a lot today.”

“To be honest with you, I feel like I’m enlightened.” This sentence shocked Zhao Rui.

Even though Qian Jiang was out of breath when he said these two sentences. But he still showed an expression of joy.

“If you didn’t run with me today, I really didn’t know that I could run so fast. Although there’s still a gap between me and them, I decided to train hard!”

Zhao Rui was very happy in his heart. Even though Qian Jiang was only comparing to his past self, this had given Qian Jiang great confidence!

“Okay! I believe you! I’ll go fight for a place first, and you try your best to finish the race!” Zhao Rui instructed as he began to run at full speed.

Previously, he had been running with Qian Jiang, so he was slower. At this time, he had saved a lot of energy.

Now that he started to sprint, he quickly overtook half of the people.

He finally reached the finish line.

Qian Jiang held on for another 3,500 meters. Finally, he couldn’t hold on any longer.

He fell on the ground, exhausted. Then, he walked to the finish line..