Chapter 15 Mastery of a Skill

Some people fall in love at first sight, while others become close friends as soon as they meet.

Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu were more than just partners seeking to survive together, it was definitely more than that.

Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu naturally became companions in life and death, not friends, not lovers, nor family, yet they both cherished each other to the utmost degree. They would even say without hesitation that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the other, and this bond formed in just one short day.

Perhaps it was the moment when Gao Yuan handed that can of food to Luo Xingyu that they became inseparable.

But Xiang Weiguo was different.

Just one night was all it took for Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu to become an indivisible whole, while Xiang Weiguo, even after two days, was still just a neighbor.

Actually, Gao Yuan wanted to develop a closer relationship with Xiang Weiguo, because Xiang Weiguo was indeed a good person, and he was also an incredibly remarkable person.

But during these two days, Xiang Weiguo always maintained a polite distance from Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu.

In these last two days, Xiang Weiguo focused on repairing his old house, but at night he preferred to sleep in the house without a roof rather than share a room with Gao Yuan and the others.

When it was time to eat, Xiang Weiguo would unabashedly share wild boar meat with Gao Yuan, but he would take it upon himself to cook the meat. During the meal, he mostly kept silent, and after eating, he would continue to work on his old house.

Gao Yuan hadn't left the shelter in these last two days either, not even to check his traps, because he needed to stay and take care of Luo Xingyu. He would also help Xiang Weiguo with various chores.

However, when working together, Xiang Weiguo hardly spoke, and even when Gao Yuan attempted to start a conversation, Xiang Weiguo would mostly respond with silence.

Since listening to the broadcast, Xiang Weiguo seemed like a different person from when he first appeared.

Today was the third day. After covering the windows with plastic sheets, Xiang Weiguo finally had a simple but complete home.

The plastic sheets were held down with sticks, which were fixed in place with nails. After hammering the last nail into the crevice, Xiang Weiguo let out a gentle sigh of relief.

Passing the ax to Gao Yuan, Xiang Weiguo sincerely said, "Thank you for your tools, and also for your help."

Gao Yuan didn't take the ax, he smiled and said, "Keep the ax, how could one manage to live in the mountains without an ax."

Xiang Weiguo didn't hesitate to take the ax back. After quietly observing Gao Yuan for a moment, he suddenly said, "The house is fixed, so let us start from today."

Gao Yuan was startled, "Start what?"

"Start training."

Throughout these three days, Xiang Weiguo never mentioned teaching Gao Yuan anything. Even when Gao Yuan hinted at the subject, Xiang Weiguo would avoid answering, but now, Xiang Weiguo finally brought it up on his own.

"Training, good!"

Xiang Weiguo continued indifferently, "Xiaoyu is still too weak now, but she is young after all, and with sufficient food to restore her nutrition, she'll recover quickly. When the time comes, take her along in the training with you. In these times, it's always good to learn more about self-defense."

"Thank you, Uncle Xiang, thank you!"

Xiang Weiguo clearly hesitated before saying, "The other day, when you and Xiaoyu were talking about despair and hope, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was just trying to calm down a bit and wanted to borrow some tools from you, so... I ended up hearing it, and then…"

"What?"

With a helpless look, Xiang Weiguo said, "Despair. As a soldier, I can't play any role in this war. If this is a war, then what is a soldier who can't do anything?"

Gao Yuan didn't answer; he couldn't.

Xiang Weiguo sighed softly, "As a soldier, if I could fight the aliens even just once, even if I were to die in battle immediately, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. But what I fear most is not knowing what I'm capable of doing."

In a low voice, Gao Yuan said, "What can be done now is to strive to survive. Maybe there really is some hope."

Xiang Weiguo nodded, "Our company commander used to say, 'The caterpillar bends to progress, the dragon and snake go into hiding to preserve their life.' Surviving gives hope; he wasn't wrong."

Gao Yuan was perplexed for a moment, "Gourmet... I don't understand, what does it mean?"

Xiang Weiguo smiled, "It's not 'gourmet', it's a caterpillar, an insect. It means that the caterpillar bends its body to move forward, and dragons and snakes hibernate to save their lives. This saying comes from the 'I Ching' interpretations."

With sincerity, Gao Yuan said, "Uncle Xiang, you're truly knowledgeable!"

Xiang Weiguo shook his head, "It was our company commander who told me this. He was the one truly knowledgeable and talented. I didn't understand the saying at first. The commander explained it to me, but I didn't remember at the time. Later, when I was recuperating, I asked someone to find out the meaning and memorized it after repeating it many times. It's not that I'm so learned; it's just that this saying is very important to me."

"Why is it important?"

Xiang Weiguo looked at Gao Yuan and said softly, "Because the commander died, and I lived."

Lost in memories, Xiang Weiguo seemed a bit sad.

After a long while, Xiang Weiguo finally turned to Gao Yuan and spoke softly, "You are different from the young people I've met."

"What's different?"

"You're not as energetic as the others," he said. "You think too much, so much so that you don't resemble a young person. It's neither a flaw nor a merit; I'm simply saying you are different from other young people."

"I might be a bit neurotic," he said with a self-depreciating smile. "I've indeed been different from other kids since I was young. I'm full of contradictions, I like to disagree with others. When others are optimistic, I'm pessimistic, and when others are pessimistic, well, I tend to be optimistic."

Xiang Weiguo said earnestly, "When everyone thinks there's no danger, you can sense risk, yet when others fall into hysterical despair because of real danger, you manage to stay optimistic. It's simply because you've never been influenced by others, someone like you is naturally suited to be a staff officer."

"A staff officer?" Gao Yuan asked in surprise. "I thought you would say a general, or maybe a soldier."

Xiang Weiguo laughed and said, "Being a general isn't so easy to achieve. Your traits are precious, but having these traits doesn't mean you can easily become a general. As for a soldier, well, soldiers just need to follow orders, they don't need to think about anything else. Whether they are optimistic or pessimistic doesn't really matter..."

Gao Yuan laughed along with Xiang Weiguo and then Xiang Weiguo casually said, "If you want to train with me, it's going to be tough. I don't like quitting halfway. If I seriously start teaching you, don't even think about giving up midway. Have you thought it through?"

"I've thought it through, I don't like quitting halfway either," Gao Yuan replied.

"That's the spirit, young man!"

Xiang Weiguo first gave Gao Yuan a thumbs up, then patted Gao Yuan's shoulder affectionately, but for some reason, Gao Yuan suddenly had an ominous premonition when Xiang Weiguo patted him.

"Let's see what you're made of. Tell me, what can you do?"

Gao Yuan thought for a while, then with a helpless expression he replied, "I can make knives, and I've practiced Martial Arts. That was when I joined the Martial Arts club in college. Well, if we're talking about skills, and according to your standards and requirements, I guess I can't do much..."

"That's right, you can't do much," Xiang Weiguo confirmed. "Don't say you know Martial Arts. When you made a move earlier, I realized you completely don't understand how to fight. I'm curious, since you're a survivalist, why did you prepare so much stuff but didn't think about making your body stronger and train yourself to be tougher? I work, earn money, barely manage to eat, where would I have the time and energy to train anything else? At most, I just go running. Compared to my colleagues, I'm already very disciplined."

Xiang Weiguo nodded, looked into the distance, then pointed at a tree far away and said, "Run there as fast as you can, touch the tree and come back."

Gao Yuan knew this was a test, but he didn't expect the test to begin so soon.

"Uh, Uncle Xiang, I just remembered something. I'm good at..."

"Don't worry about what you're good at, just do what I said! Run as fast as you can, run!"

Gao Yuan hesitated again, then put down what he was holding and ran towards the tree Xiang Weiguo pointed at as fast as he could.

Xiang Weiguo had said to run as fast as possible, so Gao Yuan ran at the fastest sprint speed he could, but halfway there, he started to feel weak in the legs, and obviously slowed down quite a bit.

By the time he touched the tree and ran back to Xiang Weiguo, Gao Yuan was panting heavily.

Xiang Weiguo remained noncommittal, looking at Gao Yuan with a kind and benevolent expression, "Your performance was poor, but now you can say what you're good at."

After catching his breath for a moment, Gao Yuan said, "Does throwing stones count?"

"Throwing stones?" Xiang Weiguo was taken aback, then frowned and said, "Let's see you throw one."

"This way."

Taking Xiang Weiguo to the place where he practiced throwing stones every day, Gao Yuan picked up a stone and threw it at the target.

The target fell with every stone thrown, and by the time Gao Yuan threw the fifth stone, Xiang Weiguo finally called a halt.

"Stop a moment."

Xiang Weiguo looked Gao Yuan up and down as if seeing an alien.

"How about that?Um, why are you looking at me like that?" Gao Yuan asked.

Xiang Weiguo shook his head and said, "Nothing, you really have a knack for this. How long have you been practicing?"

"Almost two months," Gao Yuan replied. "After I hid in the mountains, I thought I'd practice throwing stones to hit wild chickens, so I just started."

Xiang Weiguo looked at him with surprise and said, "Two months?"

"Not quite two months, but it's close enough," Gao Yuan responded.

Xiang Weiguo took a deep breath, nodded thoughtfully, and after contemplating for a moment, he nodded again and said, "Good, keep training, you should definitely continue with this, but..."

He surveyed the ground, then picked up a stone from the pile Gao Yuan had collected, weighing it before picking up another smaller stone. After weighing that one too, he placed it in Gao Yuan's hand and said, "From now on, train with these. Use stones of about the same size and weight."

Gao Yuan took the stone, curiousity evident on his face, "Why though? Is there a difference?"

Xiang Weiguo smiled and replied, "The weight of this stone is the same as an 82 grenade. Just train with this."

"So, I should pretend it's a grenade? Although I don't have any grenades... but okay, Uncle Xiang, if this were grenade throwing, how would you rate my skills?"

Xiang Weiguo laughed and said, "So-so, just average. It's good among recruits, but it means nothing among the veterans. Keep practicing, practice diligently."