They practiced the formation in the afternoon till it was twenty past five, then everyone gathered and lined up, standing as straight as possible while Commander Ford glanced at his watch.
“I have already told you the rules. At half past five, you will start the last training of the day, and Cafeteria No. 2 opens at six o’clock sharp. Remember, the rice and meat are for the wolves, and as for dogs, they will only get to eat dirt!”
All drill instructors, commanders, and seniors were evacuated, and Nathan was led away as well. The remaining students stood still and neatly in the green field, and under the surveillance of numerous surveillance cameras, nobody dared to move.
In front of the training ground, there was a clock tower that showed the standard time of Bayside City. Everyone was counting down, breathing heavily and ready to charge.
Three, two, one—
When it was precisely half past five, the thousands of students headed toward Cafeteria No. 2. Clearly, the boys were ahead, especially those who were from the School of Athletics, for they went fast and furious.
It only took a minute when a group of girls who were all graceful and delicate were left behind, and one after another, they started crying. Some of them lost control and they started to cry like babies.
Sophia’s body was well-built, blending among the boys as she ran quickly. She ate a lot at lunch, so she was all energized. Furthermore, she worked out everyday, so the distance was nothing to her.
The students rushed out of the training ground and ran according to the road signs. Suddenly, there was a hill in front of them that was covered in a dense primary forest. Everyone was dumbfounded as they thought it was only an ordinary hill, but they didn’t expect it to be a forest!
So it turned out that three kilometres was not the actual running distance, but the displacement between the two points!
Also, there were two of the same hills like this ahead, and they needed to climb those two hills. So in total, that definitely exceeded three kilometres already.
A tempting smell wafted from afar, and it seemed to be the smell of sauteed green pepper pork shreds. Everyone immediately judged the direction of Cafeteria No. 2 based on where the smell came from, and a group of students rushed up the hill hurriedly.
The vegetation in the forest was not exactly that dense, and there was a clear path ahead while the altitude was not particularly high. The snakes and bugs were probably removed already, which made the running fairly easy. It was not dangerous at all, but it required a lot of physical exertion.
Sophia and a group of men took the lead, and they were brimming with energy as they ran. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a sea of cadets in olive-drab and felt a sense of accomplishment.
Not far away, an asphalt road stretched into the mountains that meandered away from the highlands; a long line of cars were slowly moving on the road. The commanders and drill instructors were all in the cars, while Nathan sat next to Quinton and Commander Ford, drinking his soda.
Joel, the Commanding General, was looking through his binoculars to check the situation. Sophia felt slightly guilty when she saw Commander Ford as he might notice she was pretending to be injured immediately if she were to run that so fast.
Her main goal was to highlight her determination to train despite her injuries so she would get a high score. The result was not important, and it was the journey that mattered. After all, she had someone to cover for her, so she needn’t worry about starving herself.
Therefore, she lowered her speed, and in a blink of an eye, she was swarmed over by the army of cadets and fell behind the group as she kept running at a constant speed.
A group of girls were crying while they ran.
Suddenly, she saw a familiar figure.
Richard was pulling Kayla with his left hand and Xyla with his right while running up hill. It looked exceptionally difficult, and halfway through the run, Xyla staggered and fell.
“Xyla!” Richard and Kayla were forced to stop and help her.
Kayla looked at the everyone who ran past them. As they paused for a moment, they were already falling behind by a lot, and Xyla was whining and refusing to walk, almost stomping her feet in anger.
Sophia was running behind Kayla, and subconsciously, she kicked her on the back. “F*ck you!”
The din of the tumultuous footsteps had drowned her voice.
The short girl was panting. “Girl, what are you doing? Hurry up and fight for the food!”
The tall boy looked exceptionally delicate. His lips were cherry red and his teeth were white, while his skin was fair and smooth. Furthermore, he stood at an impressive height of at least 180 centimetres. “Stop being in a daze. Come on!”
Sophia was almost dragged along by the two.
Sophia said, “Guys… I can still run. I can still run! Let go of me!”
The three of them ran up the hill while panting heavily and in a blink of an eye, they arrived at the peak of the hill, then they started running downward. There was a ten-metre wide river in front of them, and there were two bridges, one each on the left and right hand side, but there was quite a distance. If they went through the bridge, it would add another one kilometre to the journey.
Sophia started cursing. “F*ck!”
Some looked at the deep emerald-green river as they stepped back and took a detour to cross the bridge over the river; some dived directly into the river and swam across. The drill instructors were patrolling along the river, just in case if anyone was drowning, so someone would be able to save them.
Sophia exchanged a look with the girl. They then both asked simultaneously, “Can you swim?”
After they asked the question, there was a three second pause. The two of them who were covered in dirt jumped into the river, leaving the boy alone by the shore as he shouted and jumped. “How could you do this? I am not going to jump! The water is so dirty. Hey! Wait for me—”
In the end, he still had to jump into the river and swam as fast as he could. He soon caught up with the two girls in front of him. Although he was a sissy, he was still a man at the end of the day.
When they trained in the afternoon, they were only wearing an army-green T-shirt that was very thin. So, there was no burden at all as they swam. As the three of them swam really quickly, they reached the opposite bank of the river in less than a minute. They took a breather by the river and prepared to hike the next hill.
The river water had washed their faces, and the short girl recognized Sophia on the spot. “You are the Watermelon Queen, Sophia!”
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