Chapter 90: White Mantou and Raw Meat

"Are you kidding me?"

BaiLi PoPo, with a face full of misery, was charging toward the training ground with all his might. It was hard to tell where his newfound energy came from—just moments ago, he was a lump of goo on the bed, but now, he was running like the wind!

With the night fully gone, Lin QiYe could only rely on his own speed to reach the training ground. Thankfully, his speed wasn't slow, and once again, he arrived within three minutes.

This time, far more people arrived on time.

However, there were still a few who had just finished their 20 laps, either trailing behind or fainting as soon as they reached the training ground, eyes rolling back.

As one person fainted, a group of medics rushed in with stretchers, quickly lifting the person onto it with the skill of tossing a sandbag, cheerfully unaware of where they were taking them.

Instructor Hong glanced at his stopwatch, nodding in satisfaction.

"Good. Most of you arrived on time this time. There's improvement."

He continued, "The next twenty minutes is your meal time. If you're not back here within twenty minutes, you know the consequences."

With that, he turned and walked away with the other two instructors without a second glance.

The new recruits exchanged looks before they all scrambled toward the cafeteria!

Even BaiLi PoPo, who had looked like death just moments ago, suddenly came to life, eyes shining as he ran ahead, looking like he wanted to devour the entire cafeteria.

When the new recruits stormed into the cafeteria like a pack of hungry wolves, they froze in place when they saw the scene in front of them.

The large cafeteria was filled with square tables, each with two large bowls—one filled with steaming white mantou, the other with raw meat, still tinged with blood.

The recruits stood there, confused, looking around.

"Where's the food? Where's the dishes?"

"I don't know."

"Is this raw beef? How do we eat this?"

"Maybe they'll bring hotpot or something later and cook it?"

"I don't think so."

"..."

Lin QiYe and BaiLi PoPo stood at one table. BaiLi PoPo furrowed his brow, lifting the two large bowls, seemingly trying to find food at the bottom.

"QiYe, what do you think they mean by this?"

"It doesn't mean anything. They just want us to eat."

"But how are we supposed to eat this? The mantou doesn't even have water to go with it, and this raw meat—just looking at it makes me sick. At least if they gave us some Lao Gan Ma, it would be better!"

Lin QiYe didn't respond, simply pointing at the table next to them.

At the next table, Zheng Zhong, who came from a special forces background, was silently tearing into the raw meat, while holding a mantou in the other hand, wiping the blood off the meat with one hand and stuffing the mantou into his mouth.

"This..." BaiLi PoPo stared at the scene in shock, unable to speak for a moment.

"Who's in charge here? Get out here!" Shen Qingzhu slammed the mantou back into the bowl, his voice cold.

A moment later, an old man holding a ladle walked out of the kitchen with a dark expression. "Who the hell is yelling?"

"Is this food for humans? Who are you looking down on?!" Shen Qingzhu squinted at the old man, speaking icily.

"Eat if you want. Don't eat? Then get out!" The old man glared, sounding quite rude.

"Oh?" Shen Qingzhu raised an eyebrow, about to say something more, when a few people entered the cafeteria.

Dressed in grey cloaks and holding masks, they walked straight through the middle of the cafeteria, making their way to a round table in the farthest corner.

At this moment, everyone fell silent.

These people didn't wear their masks, but everyone knew who they were.

"Oh, it's you little brats." The old man saw the seven people and chuckled.

"Old Sun, after all these years, you're still cooking for the recruits in the cafeteria?" Wang Mian, with a gentle face, stood up respectfully and said.

The other members of the Masked Team also stood and gave a slight bow to Old Sun.

"Heh, this old body of mine can't make it to the battlefield anymore, so I can only make use of whatever's left in this broken kitchen," Old Sun waved his hand dismissively.

"It's been so long. We really missed your cooking. Looks like we'll have to trouble you again this time."

"Ah, no need to worry about that. Just wait here. I'll make a few dishes for you." Old Sun grabbed his ladle and turned to head back into the kitchen, completely ignoring the recruits.

With the Masked Team present, the other recruits didn't dare stop Old Sun. They could only frown and stare at the bowls of mantou and raw meat without moving.

"Eat." Lin QiYe reached into the bowl and grabbed a mantou, taking a bite.

The mantou was hard and tasteless, like chewing on wax.

"I... I can't eat this." BaiLi PoPo looked at the raw meat and felt a bit nauseous.

"If you don't eat, you won't make it through today's training." Lin QiYe kept chewing on the mantou and said indifferently. "And once you're on the battlefield, no one can guarantee there'll always be food. If you don't want to starve to death, you have to learn to adapt."

With that, Lin QiYe grabbed a piece of raw meat, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took a large bite.

BaiLi PoPo gritted his teeth and finally grabbed a piece of mantou, taking a bite.

After hesitating for a long time, Mo Li finally made up his mind, clutching a piece of raw meat and taking a bite, while Cao Yuan, who was sitting across from him, calmly finished an entire piece of meat, leaving the surrounding recruits shocked for the whole year.

Shen Qingzhu's face darkened. With a cold snort, he began eating as well.

Slowly, more recruits began to eat, but most of them still stood there with expressions of resistance, unwilling to eat the food in front of them, preferring to starve.

Upstairs in the room, Instructor Hong looked down at the entire cafeteria, nodding slightly.

"Not bad. More people are eating than last year. Some of them are good prospects."

"Hm, Zheng Zhong lives up to his special forces background. He eats without even furrowing his brow. Lin QiYe is also impressive, but what surprised me was Shen Qingzhu actually eating as well..."

"Hmph, he's just a military thug!"

"Old Hong, you can't judge a person by their appearance. I think he's just a bit prickly. Deep down, he's not a bad person."

"Oh? You have faith in him?"

"People change. This year's training will change a lot. Who knows what they'll be like when they leave here?"

Instructor Hong shrugged, noncommittal.

Here's the translation of the new section:

"Speaking of which, in this day and age, do we really need to be so strict?" A newly arrived instructor hesitated and asked, "No matter how tough it gets, it shouldn't come to eating raw meat, right?"

Instructor Hong slowly closed his eyes, as if recalling something. "More than eighty years ago, when the Nightwatchers were first formed, there was a huge disaster, and food was scarce everywhere... Back then, our predecessors chewed on tree bark, gnawed on roots, and fought with knives and the mysterious forces with everything they had!"

"Even though the economy is developed now, some things still can't be forgotten! Every batch of recruits must eat raw meat for their first meal! Not having to chew on roots and tree bark is already a blessing. This is a tradition of the Nightwatchers—it's been like this in the past, it's like this now, and it will continue to be so in the future..."

Instructor Hong paused for a moment, opened his eyes, and gazed out the window. He spoke slowly:

"Until the day this country no longer needs the Nightwatchers, these ancient traditions, along with the secrets that no one knows, will be forever buried in history..."