Are you kidding me?
With a long face, Baili Pangpang rushed towards the training ground. He didn't know where he got the strength from, but just a moment ago he was a lump of mud on the bed, but now he was walking like the wind!
Since the night had already dissipated, Lin Qiye could only rely on his own speed to run towards the training ground. Fortunately, he was not slow, and this time he still arrived at the training ground within three minutes.
This time, there were significantly more people who arrived on time.
However, a few who had just finished 20 laps either fell to the back or fainted as soon as they reached the training ground.
No sooner had the person fainted than a group of medical staff rushed over with a stretcher, lifting the person onto it like a sandbag, and happily taking them away, their skill was outrageous.
Instructor Hong glanced at the stopwatch and nodded in satisfaction.
"Very good, the vast majority of people arrived on time this time, which is an improvement."
Then he continued, "The next twenty minutes are your lunch break. If you're not back here within twenty minutes, you know what the consequences will be."
After saying that, he turned and left without looking back, along with the other two instructors.
The new recruits looked at each other in bewilderment, then all of them took off running towards the mess hall!
Even the usually listless Baili Pangpang perked up, his eyes shining as he rushed to the front, looking as if he wanted to devour the entire cafeteria alive.
When the freshmen stormed into the cafeteria like tigers, they were stunned by the scene before them.
Inside the large canteen, there were rows of square tables, each with two large basins on it. One basin was filled with white steamed buns, and the other was filled with meat.
Raw meat with traces of blood still on it...
The freshmen walked into the cafeteria with a blank expression, stood around the square tables, and looked around.
"Where's the rice? Where are the dishes?"
"I don't know?"
"What is this? Raw beef? How do you eat this?"
"Maybe they'll serve hot pot to each table in a bit, so we can cook it together..."
"I don't think so."
"..."
Lin Qiye and Baili Pangpang stood at a table. The latter, with a furrowed brow, picked up two large bowls, seemingly looking for food at the bottom of the bowls.
"Qiye, what do you think they mean by this?"
"It's nothing special, they just want us to eat."
"How can anyone eat this? It's just plain white steamed buns, no water at all, and the raw meat makes me sick just looking at it… Even a jar of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce would be nice!"
Lin Qiye didn't speak, but simply pointed to the table next to him.
At the next table, Zheng Zhong, a former special forces soldier, had already picked up raw meat with a blank expression and started tearing into it. In his other hand, he was holding a steamed bun, wiping the blood off the raw meat as he stuffed it into his mouth.
"This..." Baili Pangpang stared at the scene in shock, speechless for a long time.
"As long as there's at least some starch, that's fine—I don't mind." Lin Xi Chen's eyes lit up as she sat down and ate those steamed buns with such relish that it made others' mouths water. Accustomed to hardship, she didn't mind a meager diet.
"Where is he? Show yourself!" Shen Qingzhu slammed the steamed bun in his hand back into the basin and shouted in a deep voice.
A moment later, an old man carrying a spoon walked out of the kitchen with a dark expression. "Who the hell is yelling?"
"Is this stuff meant for human consumption? Who do you think you are?!" Shen Qingzhu squinted at the old man and said coldly.
"Eat if you want, or get out!" the old man glared and replied irritably.
"Oh?" Shen Qingzhu raised an eyebrow, about to say something more, when just then, several more people walked into the cafeteria.
They wore grey cloaks and carried masks as they walked straight through the center of the dining hall and sat down at the round table at the back.
At that moment, everyone fell silent.
This time they weren't wearing masks, but everyone knew who they were.
"Oh, it's you little rascals." The old man chuckled when he saw the seven people.
"Old Sun, after all these years, you're still cooking for the new recruits in the canteen?" Wang Mian, with his handsome features, stood up respectfully as soon as the old man arrived.
The other members of the Masked Squad also stood up and bowed slightly to Elder Sun.
"Hey, this old body of mine can't go to the battlefield anymore, so I can only do my part in this dilapidated kitchen." Old Sun waved his hand and said nonchalantly.
"I've been away for so long, and I really miss your cooking. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again this time."
"Oh well, never mind that. Just wait here. I'll go make you some dishes." Old Sun picked up a spoon, turned around, and walked towards the kitchen, completely ignoring the new recruits.
With the masked squad present, the other recruits dared not stop Old Sun anymore. They could only frown and stare at the white steamed buns and raw meat in the basin, remaining motionless.
"Eat up." Lin Qiye reached into the bowl, took out a piece of white steamed bun, and took a bite.
The steamed bun was very hard and had no flavor at all; it tasted like chewing wax.
"I...I can't eat this." Baili Pangpang felt nauseous when he saw the raw meat.
"If I don't eat, I won't make it through today's training," Lin Qiye said calmly, munching on a steamed bun. "Besides, once we're on the battlefield, no one can guarantee there will be food everywhere. If you don't want to starve, you'd better learn to adapt sooner rather than later."
After saying that, Lin Qiye grabbed another piece of raw meat, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took a big bite.
Baili Pangpang gritted his teeth and took out a piece of steamed bun from the basin to eat.
Molly, who had been watching from the sidelines, hesitated for a long time before finally making up her mind. She picked up the raw meat in the bowl and started gnawing on it. Meanwhile, Cao Yuan, who was standing opposite her, had already finished a whole piece of meat without changing his expression, shocking the new recruits around him for a whole year.
Shen Qingzhu's expression darkened slightly, and after letting out a cold snort, he also started eating.
Gradually, more and more recruits started eating, but the vast majority still stood there with resistance, preferring to go hungry rather than eat what was in front of them.
In the room on the second floor, Instructor Hong looked down at the entire canteen and nodded slightly.
"That's good. There are more people willing to take the exam than last year, and there are several promising talents among them."
"Hmm, Zheng Zhong is indeed a special forces soldier; he ate without even flinching. Lin Qiye is not bad either, but what surprised me was that Shen Qingzhu actually started eating too..."
"Hmph, he's just a military thug!"
"Old Hong, you can't judge a book by its cover. I think he's just a bit prickly, but he's not a bad person at heart."
"You actually think highly of him?"
"People always change. This year of training will change a lot of things. Who knows what will happen when they leave here?"
Instructor Hong shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.
"Seriously, in this day and age, is it really necessary to be this strict?" the new instructor asked hesitantly. "Even if it's really tough, it shouldn't involve eating raw meat, right?"
Instructor Hong slowly closed his eyes, as if recalling something. "More than eighty years ago, when the Night Watch was first established, it happened to be during a great disaster, and there was a shortage of food everywhere... In those years, our predecessors ate tree bark, chewed grass roots, and fought desperately with sword and mystics!"
"Even with today's economic prosperity, some things must not be forgotten! Every new recruit's first meal during training must be raw meat! It's already a miracle they weren't fed grass roots and tree bark; this is a tradition of our Night's Watch, it was so in the past, it is so now, and it will continue to be so in the future."
Instructor Hong paused, opened his eyes, looked out the window, and slowly said:
"Until one day, when this country no longer needs the Night's Watch, these ancient traditions, along with their untold secrets, will be buried forever in history..."