Chapter 7: Arrival at the Barracks!

"Beep! Beep!"
"Fall in!"

Another transit station.
But this time, it wasn't for a meal; they were ordered directly off the trucks to assemble. On the parade ground outside the station, recruits from three train cars gathered. These were the men headed to the same unit as Chu An and his group.

Chu An and his peers were lucky; they had traveled straight here from their hometowns. Other recruits, however, had to transfer, riding in different boxcars and waiting at various railway stations or transit points for their connecting trains. Now, the train they had arrived on was departing again, carrying other recruits off to different units, but that no longer concerned Chu An and the others.

...

"Zhu Dingshan!"
"Here!"
"Li Guoping!"
"Here!"

On the parade ground, the officer in charge of the troops held a roster and called out names. Shortly after, without much delay, Chu An and the others were loaded onto a truck.

*Bang! Clatter!*

As the truck hit the road, a constant cacophony of mechanical rattling filled the air. With every jolt, Chu An and the others in the cargo bed were tossed into the air like ragdolls.

"Slow down! Slow down! Do you think we’re pigs?" Platoon Leader Ma, who was also sitting in the back, grabbed the side of the truck and shouted angrily toward the front.

It was useless. His voice likely didn't even reach the driver, given the separation of the cab and the incessant clanking of the vehicle. In truth, those in the front could only hear the "Ouch!" and "Ah!" echoing from the back.

"Can you go faster? Step on it!" Tong Lianzhong, sitting in the passenger seat, gripped the door handle and looked back with a grin. Instead of telling the driver to slow down, he urged him on.

The driver cracked a smile. "You got it!"

In an instant, the men in the back felt as though they were about to be launched into the sky. Chu An gripped the side panel, swaying wildly like a sapling in a storm. It was miserable. Though he hadn't ridden in a military truck before his rebirth, he had ridden walking tractors in the countryside as a child, and even those hadn't been this jarring.

He watched as other recruits, failing to hold on tight, were bounced off their feet. They were being tossed around like vegetables in a chef’s wok. Chu An suddenly recalled a short video he had seen before his rebirth about military transport. The title had been something like:

"Pigs might get dizzy, and vegetables might get bruised, but you, my dear comrade, are invincible. You possess a will of steel; even if you fall out, you’ll chase the truck down and climb back in yourself."

At the time, Chu An had thought it was just a joke. Now, he realized it was the absolute truth. The driver in front clearly didn't consider these recruits to be made of flesh and blood. Looking back, the road was full of deep ruts, and this truck—which practically lacked any suspension—was tearing along at at least fifty kilometers per hour. It was terrifying; don't underestimate fifty kilometers per hour on a road like this.

Everyone in the back was gripping the sides of the truck or anything they could find with both hands. Chu An noticed several recruits had turned pale. Li Guoping, in particular, was clutching the edge of the truck bed with both hands, eyes tightly shut, shouting "Mama!" every time the truck hit a massive bump. Just before boarding, he had been so excited, bragging that this was his first time ever riding in a truck. Now, Chu An suspected he would be left with lasting psychological trauma.

Time crawled by in agonizing seconds. If the boxcar ride had been unbearable due to boredom, this truck ride was unbearable due to pure physical pain. Fortunately, the bouncing didn't last too long. After three or four minutes, the truck hit an asphalt road, and their suffering finally ended.

"Damn it! Those bastards in the motor pool!" Platoon Leader Ma rubbed his left shoulder blade. He had bumped it when he was tossed into the air earlier. Even if the driver believed his comrades had a will of steel, their bodies were undeniably made of fragile flesh. Moreover, veterans in this era rarely rode in trucks—especially in infantry units like theirs, where mules and horses remained the primary means of transport. Even though he was a veteran, he lacked experience with this kind of travel, and getting injured while caught off guard was to be expected.

He wasn't the only one; as soon as the ride smoothed out, many recruits were rubbing their aching bodies.

"Next time I get the chance, I’m going to take their wheels off and hide them. I’ll be the death of them!" Squad Leader Liu muttered fiercely. If they had been in the front, they might have been laughing, but they had endured the same torture in the back, and it was impossible not to be annoyed. However, only they dared to say such things. The recruits, even if injured, only dared to moan and rub their bruises. Times were different; in the era Chu An came from, recruits might have dared to grumble, but in this day and age, they wouldn't dream of it.

The convoy of military trucks sped along the road. The driver, despite his reckless speed on the rough terrain, clearly possessed genuine skill; on the flat road, there was barely any jerking. This prevented the recruits from vomiting, despite the nausea some had felt earlier. Chu An cynically imagined that the driver knew exactly what he was doing, keeping it steady on the pavement to ensure these boys—many of whom had never ridden in a vehicle in their lives—wouldn't dirty his truck.

After about half an hour of smooth driving, the truck suddenly turned onto a mountain dirt road. Although it wasn't paved, it lacked the deep ruts of the previous road, and the driver was clearly being more careful, so the recruits weren't too uncomfortable.

Another half hour passed. After passing what appeared to be a small town and driving for another ten minutes, something sudden happened.

*Boom, boom, boom—Clang!*
*Boom, boom, boom—Clang!*

As the truck slowed down, the sound of gongs and drums erupted outside.

"A warm welcome to our new comrade recruits!" a voice boomed.

Chu An and the others near the back scrambled to lean over the tailgate to look. They saw veterans lined up on both sides of the road, playing gongs and drums. Their truck rolled into a barracks illuminated by large searchlights.

"So enthusiastic!"
"Are they welcoming us?"

The recruits in the truck, who had been completely drained by the journey, suddenly perked up. Some looked at Platoon Leader Ma and Squad Leader Liu, asking with wide-eyed innocence.

"Haha, of course they're welcoming you!" Platoon Leader Ma laughed. "Alright, get ready! We're disembarking!"

Naturally, everyone knew they had to get off. They weren't going to spend the night in the truck, were they?

Less than a minute later, the truck came to a stop. Chu An and the others climbed out one by one. The veterans who had been playing the music ran over to the back of the truck.

"Come on, come on! Be careful, let me take your bags!"
"Watch your step, take it slow!"

The veterans were incredibly friendly. When Chu An climbed down, he had intended to carry his own pack, but the veterans were so eager to help that they insisted on taking it from him, only handing it back once he was safely on the ground.

For a moment, a wave of warmth washed over him. But immediately after, a long-circulating saying flashed through Chu An’s mind:

"When recruits arrive, the veterans celebrate the New Year?"

Were these veterans being so enthusiastic because they had finally received some new "toys" to play with?