Chapter 10 Only Do 3 Push-ups

"Two minutes to get dressed, pillow under the quilt and store it in the bed frame box, quilt spread out on the bed, hurry up!"

"What are you standing around for?!"

"Little guy, do you want me to drag you down? Move faster!"

"Whoever's slow, go outside and do a hundred push-ups before coming back!"

The entire Squad Nine was filled with Hao Chengbin's curses and the clamor of rummaging through belongings.

No one made a peep, not even the "little guy" who suddenly woke up with red eyes, because Hao Chengbin had already opened the door, and the corridors echoed with the reprimands of squad leaders.

Occasionally, there would be a scream.

Maybe someone got out of bed too fast and hit their head.

Those who understand, understand.

Anyway, no one dared to peek.

Despite saying two minutes, with ten people in this cramped space scrambling about, it was undoubtedly impossible to finish these tasks within two minutes. By the time everyone had arranged everything as required, Squad Leader Hao glanced contentedly at his Rlelx watch, made in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Fang Huai had seen it clearly over the past few days; it was definitely a Rlelx.

Seeing how much Squad Leader Hao treasured his watch, taking it off even to wash his face, Fang Huai couldn't bear to point it out.

Hao Chengbin looked up and started giving orders.

"Five minutes, three minutes late, everyone get ready for push-ups!"

In the moment everyone hesitated, Fang Huai had already quickly occupied a favorable spot, hands pressed on the floor, feet braced against the side of his own bed for leverage.

The floor tiles were too slippery; having something to brace one's feet against made things much more bearable.

Gradually, others followed Fang Huai's lead and lay down, but half of them couldn't find a place for their feet.

"Move faster! Get ready for push-ups, don't you understand? Yue Tao, Lu Zexian, Sun Lianhai, there's no room here, go outside! Line up and let me see you!" Hao Chengbin pointed to the doorway and kicked them out as they passed.

Soon, everyone was in position.

Hao Chengbin stepped among the kneeling new recruits, constantly adjusting their postures.

"Straighten your backs! You're three minutes late today, you'll only do three push-ups. I'll call 'one,' do it down, 'two,' come up. Make it look standard, don't touch the ground, understand?"

Damn, three push-ups, are we playing this big on the first day?

"Yes, squad leader!" Fang Huai was the first to get down, already feeling the strain and quickly responded loudly to set an example.

"Yes!"

"Understood! Squad leader!"

Everyone hurried to brown-nose, some naïvely thinking: Just three push-ups, not many, let's finish them quickly and be done with it.

Hao Chengbin scratched his ear with a smile and pretended to be deaf: "What did you say? I can't hear you!"

"Understood! Squad leader!" This time everyone's voices were in unison.

Hao Chengbin smiled and then looked at his watch, saying, "One..."

Everyone went down, but their bodies didn't lower much, except for Fang Huai, who clenched his arms tightly, doing a tricep push-up to conserve some energy while lowering himself.

It was hard work; his body, untrained, was weaker than it had been when he was thirty-five.

However, Fang Huai finally felt that the lightest part of his body was his waist; as his endurance dwindled, the increasing strength in his waist was especially noticeable.

Suddenly, a squad leader's roar came from outside the door.

"What are you laughing at? You guys want to do it too, huh? Everyone get ready for push-ups!"

The squad next door started howling too.

Soon, even further afield, others began to howl.

The competitive spirit of the dog squad leaders surged up immediately.

Hearing the noise, Hao Chengbin poked his head out from the squad room to watch the commotion.

Time dragged on, and his squadmates quietly began to communicate over the microphone.

"Who'll call out to the squad leader? I can't hold on anymore!" Jiang Peng quietly propped himself up to switch hands.

"Damn... is this one count? Is this supposed to be a push-up? We have to do three?"

Teeth gritted, Fang Huai whispered towards Chen Zhongqiang's rear: "Quit your whining! These three push-ups, if you can do one every two minutes, you should count yourself lucky!"

About a minute later, just as everyone started to lose their strength, Hao Chengbin turned back with a grin.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about you guys, two!"

"Huff, puff..." A harsh chorus of panting filled the air as everyone hastily switched hands to stay up, bums raised high, shaking their hands to rest.

Hao Chengbin's gaze swept around, and only Jiang Peng, Zhao Bing, and Fang Huai at the back still looked proper as they held themselves up.

"One!" The next command quickly followed.

With a collective inhalation, Yue Tao and his group began to lose form.

"Reporting!" Peng Yingqirui yelled out his report, then simply collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air.

Hao Chengbin grabbed his shirt and yanked him into the air.

"Get up! Otherwise, everyone does one more!"

Without the strength to hold on, Peng Yingqirui's hands trembled as he pushed up but persisted without falling, and Hao Chengbin left him be.

"Report! Squad leader, I really can't hold on!"

"If you have the energy to talk, I think you can do one more."

After Hao Chengbin's words, no one else spoke, and the room was filled with nothing but breathing.

"Two!"

Half the people couldn't push themselves up.

Fang Huai barely got up, feeling like his wrists would snap, his entire hands trembling.

He was tempted to lay down and not get back up.

In less than five minutes, the tepid radiators seemed to blaze with heat, and everyone's sweat glands were wide open, with a sweat odor beginning to permeate the room.

[Task: Break the Limit, Persist for Three Minutes.]

[Requirement: Maintain a braced position for three minutes without falling to the ground.]

Without waiting for his confirmation to accept the task, the system interface's 180-second countdown had already begun.