The one on the phone laughed, “I’m glad you know this. This is your father’s love. Don’t let him down.”
“Okay, okay. Tell me, where?” “Sky City.”
YiYao Duan didn’t expect that she would go back to Sky City in such a way.
The helicopter stopped in a remote mountainous area far away from Sky City and Yiyao jumped off the
plane. Fifty people were neatly lined to welcome her. Everyone had heard of her, but none of them had
seen her in person.
Yiyao was dressed in camouflage combat uniform, with big sunglasses, so her small face could only be
seen half part.
“Hello, Captain Duan, I am Qiang Liu, the instructor. We have got the instructions and now you are in
charge here.”
Yiyao shook his hand and stood straight in front of those male soldiers and said in a loud voice, “Nice
to see you. My name is Yiyao Duan. Code name, Flame. I am your new instructor. I know that you are
all the best from your companies, but here, for me, you are no different from new recruits. You need to
listen to me, no resistance and no complaining. Otherwise, get out of here.” Yiyao pointed to the
direction of the gate, “If you wanna go, please. I don’t want to see any coward in my team. Don’t think
that you are real special forces when you get here. Now there are fifty of you and at most twenty of you
will remain, so do your best, understand?”
“Yes, madam!” They answered in unison.
Yiyao cleaned her ears, “Didn’t you eat breakfast this morning? I can’t hear you.”
“Yes, madam!” It got louder.
Yiyao looked up at the hill in the distance and then looked at her watch, “Half an hour, run to that hill
and come back. If you can’t get back on time, get out of here.”
The crowd froze. It would at least take half an hour to get there and how could they get back in such s
short time?
“Too much time for you? Hurry up!” Yiyao yelled.
Like horses running out of the yard, they all rushed towards the hill.
This made Qiang Liu admire a lot. He had been here for two days, but no matter what he said, these
guys always had a reason to refute. They were all the best of their companies and each of them were
arrogant. Of course, they wouldn’t respect him, an ordinary instructor.
“Captain Duan, this is your orderly. You can just talk to him if you need anything.”
Then he did a military salute to Yiyao, “Hello, Chief Duan. I am orderly Chen Zhang.”
“Hello, no need to call me Chief, just call me Captain.” Yiyao said kindly, “Where is my dormitory?”
The orderly took Yiyao’ s luggage and headed towards a small two-story building, “Captain, the
dormitory is over there. Captain, I’ve heard about you since I joined the army. I didn’t expect to see you
in person today. It’s just like a dream.”
Yiyao smiled. She had got used to such words, for too many people had said that.
Getting to the second floor, she pushed open a door, only to see a suite, with bedroom, living room,
washroom and everything. Outside the window were tall trees. She could also feel the summer breeze,
bringing in some coolness.
“Captain, this is your room. You can eat in the canteen. If you want, I can bring it to you…”
“No, thanks. I’ll go there.” Yiyao interrupted this young soldier. He was really noisy, talking the whole
way.
“Then are you hungry now? Do you want me to tell the chef to prepare something special for you?”
“No, thanks.” Yiyao really wanted him to shut up, “Go out first. I need to rest.”
“Oh, fine, OK. Bye.”
Only after the orderly left, Yiyao felt relieved. She sat on the sofa for a while and when it was almost
the time, she picked up the apple on the table and went downstairs.
Twenty-five minutes, no one got back.
Twenty-six minutes later, she could see one coming over.
Twenty-eight minutes, one after another, more than thirty people arrived.
Leaning against the jeep, she was eating an apple. Looking at them panting, she looked not satisfied,
but inside she thought this year the quality was not that bad.
Twenty-nine minutes, more than forty people got back. Then she counted by seconds and threw the
stopwatch to the instructor, “Note the time.”
There were still a few running desperately on the road, and when one just stepped into the line, time
was up.
Yiyao had just finished her apple. She grabbed the apple core in her hand and said in a cold voice to
the five people who were only a few steps away from the line, “Time is up.”
And the five people knew what these words meant. They did not say anything, for others could do it but
they failed. They were just not qualified enough. Then they went to pack their things without saying
more.
Yiyao said to the forty-five people who arrived on the last minute, “This is just a warm-up. The real
selection will start this afternoon. You may have some time to relax, because next, I will make you
regret coming here.”
For the next three months, YiYao just did what she had promised. There would be a test once a week,
and those who got the worst grade should leave. While those men thought what they experienced
today was the limit, but tomorrow was even more cruel.
In the evening, sitting in the car, she said with smile to those soldiers covered with mud, “I heard that
many of you think I’m not qualified enough to order you. How about this? Tomorrow we will have a
competition, I alone, against thirty-seven of you. What does everyone think?”
Someone asked, “How?”
“It’s simple. In this hill, you guys hide yourself. No need for eight hours, within six hours, if I get thirty-six
of you, I win.”
They looked at each other and one asked, “Then can we fight back?”
“Nonsense. Are you not going to fight back when someone is attacking you? Besides, once you find
me, you can also shoot.”
Then it would be 1 against 36, making all soldiers excited.
“Captain, what if you lose?”
Yiyao sneered, “If I lose, I’ll go through all these training items, but if you guys lose…” She took a
glance at them, “Just shut up and don’t let me hear anything.”
“Okay, I’m in…I’m in…”
“Very good. that’s for today.” Yiyao jumped down from the car, smiling, “go back and think about how to
hide tomorrow and what weapons to use. Don’t let me down.”
The competition officially started at eight in the morning, and at five in the morning, Yiyao slept in bed
and heard the sound of hurried footsteps coming from outside.
She turned over and tried to sleep again. They she sat in the empty cafeteria an hour later.
“Captain, aren’t you worried about it?” Orderly Chen Zhang asked with concern.
Yiyao took a bite of the Baozi and said after swallowing it, “No need. I wrote the entire C Army’s special
forces training manual and I know where they’re hiding at a glance. I’ll give them two more hours to let
them learn more and know how to use what they have learnt.”
Chen Zhang still looked at her with admiration, “Captain, what else do you want to eat? I’ll go get it for
you.”
“This Baozi is not bad. Get two more.”
“Be right there.”
At eight o’clock, Yiyao dressed up and set off, with only a dagger and a pistol.
The instructor and the orderly looked at her back and said with worry, “Who do you think will win?”
The orderly was full of confidence, “It must be the captain.”
“I think so. But wouldn’t it be too embarrassing for those 37 soldiers?”
The orderly laughed, “I don’t think it’s a shame to lose to the captain.”
“I hope they think so too.”
The sun came out form the east and when it was almost noon, the two soldiers walked out slowly with
their heads down who carried their equipment, and felt even worse when they found out that they were
the first to be found.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda