Chapter 147: The Legend
Translator: OneshotwonderEditor: Hitesh_
The shoreline suddenly became quiet for a moment, before a wave of deafening cheers and applause erupted. Zhou Sisi's classmates carried her over their head and tossed her into the air in celebrating her success.
Massa turned his head and looked the other way, allowing the corner of his lips to lift slightly. He noticed that Zhou Sisi had used GN force at the last moment. Although it was forbidden, Massa decided to let it ride since he knew that Zhou Sisi didn't do it intentionally. Although his students might not agree with him, he thought his goal was not to torture the kids but to train them into a stronger fighter. He was satisfied with their results even if Zhou Sisi had failed, and therefore, decided to be lenient for once.
The sky was quickly taking on a dark gray tone. It was almost eight when Rumi appeared at the finishing line, and Wang Tong was still somewhere behind her. Starved and exhausted, Wang Tong finally conceded that it was a tough task than he had initially thought. He remembered that Old Fart had told him to always leave some energy just in case, and regretted that he didn't follow through his lesson.
Everyone waited patiently. When Wang Tong figure first appeared at the other end of the finishing line, Massa's face turned black. It was five to Eight.
"If Wang Tong can’t finish the test in five minutes, you guys can join him in his 'diet' tonight."
"We had a deal! That's not fair." Karl leaped to his feet and shouted indignantly.
"Yes, we did have a deal, but now, I am adding another term to our agreement, that is to have everyone pass the finish line before eight should you want to have dinner. You were talking about team spirit, isn't Wang Tong part of your team? "
"You despicable..." Karl was about to throw himself at Mr. Horse Face but was stopped by Wang Ben and Hu Yangxuan.
"Calm down, we still have time."
"Wang Tong! Hurry up. You got 4 minutes left!"
All the students yelled at Wang Tong, trying to remind him of the time limit. However, Wang Tong could not hear anything since he was already half conscious. Assailed by extreme hunger and exhaustion, Wang Tong felt he was in a test that would never end.
The student noticed a smug smile had crept onto Massa's face. They gritted their teeth, fighting their urge to give Mr. Horse Face a lesson.
A few moments had passed, but Wang Tong didn't seem to have noticed that his classmates were calling out to him.
While half leaning on Ma Xiaoru, Zhou Sisi had a light bulb moment as she shouted at the top of her lungs," Wang Tong! Hurry, roast duck is almost ready!"
Surprise flashed across Wang Tong's face, and he seemed to be recovering his consciousness by the second. "Roast Duck! Roast Duck? Where is the roast duck!"
"Wang Ben has it! Hurry up! He is going to have it all!"
"NO! Leave some for me!"
Wang Tong looked like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on as he sprung towards the finishing line. He could no longer feel any hunger. The only thing he was thinking about was the tender, juicy duck meat.
He quickly reached the finishing line with the speed that terrified everyone.
"Duck! Where is the duck? You didn't even leave some bones for me? Urghh!" Having failed to find the promised duck, Wang Tong ran around in circles hysterically, as his teammates stared at him like watching a freak.
Wang Ben didn't know what to make of what he had just seen. ‘What does it have anything to do with me?’ He screamed in his mind.
Zhou Sisi posed a V with her index and middle fingers, celebrating her success. She had deployed the ultimate tactic against Wang Tong, the Tactic of the Roast Duck!
A few moments later, Wang Tong finally recovered his memory and conceded that roast duck was simply a ruse.
Massa sneered at the students as he tried to come to terms with what had just happened. A few words finally escaped his mouth:" Get to the Chapa. Enjoy your dinner."
The crowd boiled over as they danced and cheered on seeing the disappointed look of Mr. Horse Face. They had finally proven themselves and what they believed to the patronizing officer. They even requested roast duck to be one of their dinner dishes.
All the students were elated after their first victory over Mr. Horse Face. However, everyone knew that it was not the end of their battle, and they could not let their guard down just yet. Wang Tong's return was a weight off a few students' mind, and therefore, everyone slept well that night. The joy of victory made the students place greater trust in each other, and thus, they felt the even greater joy of being trusted.
Wang Tong fell asleep almost as soon as he sank his body into the soft bed. Despite the tortuous training, he was happy that he had learned to cope with the four "bracelets" on his body.
Four o clock in the morning, the ear-splitting alarm set off as scheduled. Massa looked at his watch as he waited for the students to arrive. He was relieved to find out that the students had finally learned to be on time as all the students had arrived within only five minutes, and appeared to be well rested.
Perhaps Mr. Horse Face wanted to 'reward' everyone's success yesterday, and he had increased the intensity of everyone's training yet again. His method was more personal this time, as he had given Karl a much greater increase in intensity than anyone else. Massa didn't like the fact that Karl had talked back to him a few times and therefore, had decided to let him pay the price of being a hero.
However, Karl was unruffled by the almost impossible training intensity. The more Massa challenged him, the more stubborn he became. As a result, Karl passed out twice during his training, and even Rumi felt sorry for him.
Wang Tong's "reward," was unsurprisingly even more severe than Karl’s. Not only he needed to struggle with the four "bracelets", but Massa also ordered him to carry weight bags. No one knew how heavy those weight bags were, but from Wang Tong's expression, it was easy to conclude that they were not light.
The magnetic rings were special ordered form the Military. Therefore, it was hard to find anything like it in the domestic market. Even in the Military, these rings were used only on those gifted soldiers. Massa had intended to use these rings on Wang Ben, but then quickly realized it would be too much for him.
Ever since those rings immobilized Wang Tong, he became even more serious about his training. The existence of these rings meant that there were people in this world who could not be stopped unless the rings were used against them, just like him. At the thought of a potentially more powerful fighter as his opponent, he felt pressured to push himself to the limits.
The intensive training went on for a few days, during which, students got used to getting up at four o'clock. Although the first couple mornings were torturous, the training seemed to have reinvigorated them, and eventually, they could spring out of bed a few minutes before the alarm went off.
Physical training not only increased the students' endurance, but also improved their overall strength, including soul energy and GN force utilization. Although it had minimal effect on increasing the amount of soul energy, they all felt the flow of soul energy became more fluid, and therefore, it was a huge improvement overall.
On the tenth day, something happened that everyone found to be incredulous; Massa didn't show up in the morning assembly. Although none of the students liked Mr. Horse Face, his absence somehow made them felt uncomfortable.
Ten minutes after four, and Massa was still nowhere to be seen. Instead, Principal Martyrus appeared.
"Everyone, you have successfully finished your first phase of the boot camp training: physical conditioning session. I wish everyone to continually improve your body and endurance even after the session is over."
Martyrus could sense the difference these ten days had made on the students, even though he wagered that the student themselves hadn’t noticed it yet. They had been green and childish, but now, they projected themselves as a professional soldier.
As soon as the students heard the announcement, they felt hollow on the inside. Over the ten days, the only thing they wanted was to defeat Mr. Horse Face. However, when they eventually passed Mr. Horse Face's training session, they missed him like an old friend. Perhaps, that was what's called a "Frienemy."
"How could he just leave us hanging here? I was still going to prove myself to him."
Martyrus regarded Karl with his observant eyes, "You guys have passed this session. I'd like to point out that Officer Massa had taken a vacation leave from his work to come to train you guys. For that, all of us should be very appreciative of him. Therefore, I hope you practice what you had learned from him and don’t let him down. "
"Principal, who exactly is this Massa?" Luo Manman asked curiously. She had noticed that not only Massa's training method was right on the spot, but he had also hit the mark regarding student's characters. He applied his ever-increasing expectation on only those who he saw fit for it. For some relatively weak and less confident students such as Rumi, he offered constant encouragement to make them feel stronger. As for students who were lazy, such as Karl, Massa had pushed them the hardest. As that was the only effective way to make them move. Wang Tong was the most special case of all students, because Massa deemed him as a genius. Massa had simply given him the hardest challenge and kept verbal stimulation at minimal, regardless of encouragement or scolding.
"I wasn't going to reveal his identity to you guys, but I do hope one day you would meet him again in a different setting. Massa is the captain of the strongest special force in the Military: Unit G."
Karl's was astounded by the revelation, "For real? Him? The Special Force?"
"Ha ha. You guys are still babies in the woods. Once you have entered the Military, you will understand what their training is like. Truth be told, officer Massa had been very gentle towards you guys for the last ten days." Martyrus smiled, and then he shifted his gaze at Wang Tong," Wang Tong, Officer Massa left a message for you."
Wang Tong was perplexed as to why Massa had left a message only for him, but everyone else guessed that the message perhaps was Massa's acknowledgment of Wang Tong as the strongest fighter of the group.
"Officer Massa said this: Army would be your heaven."
Wang Tong cracked a smile and replied, "Thanks, that's very kind of him to say that."
When Martyrus heard it from Massa the first time, he almost couldn't believe his ears. Massa was never generous in his praise, much less outright telling someone that he was the perfect soldier. Wang Tong never wanted to join the army, since his dream was to get rich as soon as possible. However, after having trained by Massa, he found that the idea of being a soldier had started to grow on him.
"What about these things?" Wang Tong asked Martyrus as he pointed at his bracelets.
"Officer Massa said that those were your gift."
"Karl, Officer Massa also left a message for you." The announcement caught Karl off guard, and made him wonder what kind of message would an officer with high expectations give to a bottom ranked trainee.