Chapter 140 : Chapter 140

Chapter 140. I’m Just Sitting Here Watching the Show, So What’s with Those Murderous Looks?

At the military district training ground,

Under the instructors’ command, more than three thousand recruits were divided into twenty-five formations and stood in neat rows beneath the blazing sun.

By sheer coincidence, Su Linyu, Tang Long, Chu Xingchen, and even Jiang Feng were all assigned to Formation One with Jiang Yichen.

“Brother Yichen, aren’t you exempt from daily training? Why did you come?” Tang Long asked.

“If it were me, I’d definitely be lying in the dorm with the air conditioner on.” Standing at attention, he had his belly stretching out his camouflage T-shirt.

Jiang Yichen smiled. “I’m just here to watch you guys. I’m not actually joining the training.”

A look of envy appeared in Tang Long’s eyes, but when he remembered the Divine Battle Division’s contemptuous words from that morning, he unconsciously straightened his back a little more.

“Brother Yichen, I have to train later, so I can’t keep you company,” Su Linyu said, her eyes full of affection.

Jiang Yichen gave a slight nod. This girl was always thinking about him every second of the day. She was not even worried about whether the coming training would be hard or not.

“All right. I’ll watch you train. I won’t be bored.”

Su Linyu nodded eagerly, her two cute dimples showing.

“All formations, follow your instructors to the border training grounds.”

Chief Instructor Zhou Yu’s booming voice rang out from the podium.

“Formation One, all of you, turn left!”

Instructor Huang gave the command.

More than a hundred people turned left in a disorderly mess. Some of them even mixed up left and right.

Instructor Huang’s expression darkened a little, but considering they were all new recruits, he did not say much.

“Jog, move!”

Instructor Huang ran at the front of the formation, leading them out of the military district.

At once, waves of heat rushed at them. The sun scorched their faces until they stung with pain.

The East China border lies in a desert region. The military district had formations maintaining a constant temperature, but outside the district, the ground temperature reached fifty to sixty degrees Celsius.

Quite a few people in the formation began to struggle after only running for a while, making the already uneven formation even messier.

Instructor Huang did not scold them. He only told them to keep up.

“Oh my god, why do we have to train outside the military district?” Tang Long panted, sweat soaking through his camouflage T-shirt.

Jiang Yichen only smiled faintly. This was just the appetizer.

After jogging all the way to a raised platform in the desert wasteland, Instructor Huang stood at attention without changing expression, waiting for everyone in the formation to arrive.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yichen stepped out of the formation and opened a sunshade umbrella off to the side.

“...” Instructor Huang frowned. “Jiang Yichen, what are you doing? Who told you to leave the formation?”

Jiang Yichen turned his head and flashed a grin. “I’m exempt from training. I’m just here to watch.”

“You...” Instructor Huang took a deep breath, then decided to let it go. He did not bother with Jiang Yichen again.

A few minutes later, the people in the formation finally all arrived.

Instructor Huang immediately barked, “Attention! Dress right!”

The sound of shuffling footsteps rang out. Instructor Huang nodded slightly, then looked up at the blazing sun hanging high overhead.

“This afternoon is willpower training.”

The recruits lifted their heads and stood tall. They still had a bit of initial excitement about this kind of life experience, something so different from their usual days.

“Three hours at attention. Prepare!”

But Instructor Huang’s next sentence made them all want to die on the spot.

What?

Standing at attention for three hours in weather over fifty degrees? Was he trying to kill them?

“Report!”

“Speak!”

“Instructor Huang, can you make it a little shorter?” Tang Long pleaded.

The others also looked at him with hopeful eyes.

A smile tugged at Instructor Huang’s lips. “Very good. Add another half hour.”

Everyone: “...”

What a bastard.

No one dared speak again. One by one, they straightened their backs and stood at attention.

Among them, the one standing most seriously was Chu Xingchen. Even though sweat was already dripping from his forehead, his expression did not change in the slightest.

As for Su Linyu, her current strength had already reached the point where she could ignore the outside temperature entirely. She felt nothing at all.

Tang Long, Jiang Feng, and the others, on the other hand, all wore pained expressions.

Jiang Yichen, by contrast, spent a few minutes setting up a sunshade umbrella, putting out a reclining chair, and putting on sunglasses. Then he looked at them and nodded slightly.

“Oh, right. The system also rewarded me with some Daily Leisure Snacks earlier. I might as well use them to pass the time.”

Jiang Yichen took them out of the System Space and found that the variety was actually pretty good. There were not only snacks, but fruit and drinks as well.

He took out an iced watermelon, two bottles of cola, and several bags of lime-flavored potato chips.

Then he lay comfortably on the reclining chair, pried open a bottle of cola and stuck in a straw, tore open a bag of chips, and leisurely watched the formation training not far away.

In his previous life, he had also stood here under the vicious sun for three hours. By the time he got back to the dorm, his skin had already started peeling.

Now that he no longer had to train, sitting here and watching them train felt strangely satisfying.

Jiang Yichen took a sip of ice-cold cola and began crunching happily on the chips.

His behavior was seen by everyone in the formation, and their mouths could not help twitching.

Was this even remotely polite?

Instructor Huang was speechless too, but there was nothing he could do about Jiang Yichen. All he could do was glare at him irritably before continuing to adjust the other recruits’ postures.

Everyone watched longingly, swallowing who knew how many times. As time passed, it only became more obvious.

Especially when Jiang Yichen cut open the iced watermelon, quite a few people’s eyes practically went straight.

Jiang Yichen noticed their gazes too and raised the watermelon. “Want some?”

Tang Long and many others immediately nodded.

“You do not want any! Endure it!” Instructor Huang barked at once.

Jiang Yichen shrugged helplessly. “Then I guess I’ll have to eat it myself.”

He took a bite. The icy juice burst across his mouth. Jiang Yichen let out a satisfied sound and nodded slightly. “Pretty sweet.”

Everyone slowly clenched their fists.

Damn it, that was just rubbing salt in the wound.

Even Instructor Huang was starting to lose patience. He said sharply, “Jiang Yichen, you do not need to come along for training starting tomorrow. I will notify you when I need you.”

Jiang Yichen, who was just there enjoying the show, froze and looked innocent.

“That won’t do. I’m part of the formation too.”

Instructor Huang’s already dark face turned even darker.

Su Linyu burst into laughter and kept staring at Jiang Yichen without blinking.

Watching Brother Yichen be this happy made standing at attention feel a lot less boring.

Tang Long, on the other hand, had envy written all over his face. His body swayed unsteadily, and he looked like he had lost the will to live.

I want an exemption too. I want cola and iced watermelon too!

Under the blazing sun, Jiang Yichen put on his earphones and listened to upbeat music, passing the time in great amusement.

...

At sunset, in the Huaxia headquarters conference room,

“Commander-in-Chief, an expedition team discovered an ancient ruin at Guankou. It may very well be connected to a deity, so we need to send people to explore it.”

The Director of the Geological Survey Bureau took out a file and uploaded it to everyone’s virtual screen.

Commander-in-Chief Hong Wu raised a hand and scrolled through the information in the file, then nodded slightly. “At this location... It resembles the site of the Illustrious Sage Lord from Huaxia mythology. We will need a battle division with real strength to investigate.”

“East China, your Battle Division should not have any missions lately, right?”

The person in charge of the East China Battle Division shook his head. “Commander-in-Chief, the main force of the East China Battle Division was injured last time while reinforcing the West China A-rank Beast Tide. They are all still recovering.”

Hearing that, Hong Wu could only nod and look toward the leaders of the other major regions, falling into thought.

“Commander-in-Chief, I heard the Divine Battle Division has already been activated. Why not send them?” the Minister of Strategic Affairs suggested.

Hong Wu considered it for a moment, then nodded slightly.

He had originally intended to let the Divine Battle Division handle some simpler missions first. He had not expected to send them to explore a dangerous ruin right away.

But the Divine Battle Division needed achievements to prove its strength.

“All right. Then let the Divine Battle Division go.”

After the meeting ended, Hong Wu returned to his office.

“Commander-in-Chief, the Divine Battle Division has already returned to headquarters and wishes to report on the mission results,” the guard said.

Hearing that, a smile appeared on Hong Wu’s face. “Have them come directly to my office.”

“Yes, Commander-in-Chief.”

Not long afterward, the four members of the Divine Battle Division entered the office, though they seemed somewhat reluctant to speak.

Hong Wu, who had been drinking tea, froze slightly and asked, “How did the mission go? Is Jiang Yichen a Divine Contract Holder?”

The four of them fell silent, and Mo Yan and the other two all looked at their minister.

Mei Xue’er took a deep breath and shook his head. “Commander-in-Chief, our mission failed.”

Hmm?

A puzzled expression appeared on Hong Wu’s face. The Divine Battle Division was made up of martial artists who had grasped Laws, so how could they possibly have failed?

“What exactly happened?”

“Commander-in-Chief, the information was wrong. Jiang Yichen’s true strength is that of a space-type Eighth-Realm Martial Emperor. We were defeated before we could even force out his Law Power.”

Mei Xue’er spoke in a dejected tone.

An Eighth-Realm Martial Emperor!

The teacup in Hong Wu’s hand smashed to the floor, and his expression went blank.