On the balcony, the night breeze carried a coolness that dissipated some of the alcohol fumes in the room.
Ma Donghe leaned against the railing, exhaled a thick white ring of smoke, and continued:
"The day I went to sign up, the instructor said that before the official exam, there'd be a week-long training session, supposedly to help us adapt to the intensity and improve pass rates."
"Bullshit, when I got there, I realized I'd been fooled; it was nothing short of Hell Week!"
He seemed to sink into an unpleasant memory, his voice tinged with gritted teeth:
"Every day at four in the morning, while it was still dark outside, they'd blast loudspeakers to wake us up and drag us straight into the mud to roll."
"In the middle of the night, just when you were sleeping soundly, tear gas would be thrown into the dormitory.
"As for the food, don't even mention it, all we had were compressed biscuits, and we had to find our own way to boil hot water. Living like savages."
