Part 3
Only three hundred meters left to the finish. For Luo Shizhen at full strength, it would be easy.
But for him now, it was as hard as ascending to the heavens.
Willpower could no longer support his physical weakness. His vision went black, and holding the weights, he slowly sat on the ground.
Luo Shizhen turned around and saw Lu Qiujin behind him.
Lu Qiujin seemed to have recovered; his face wasn’t as pale as before.
Sweat stung Luo Shizhen’s eyes, forcing him to squint, making him look a bit silly. After panting a few times to calm down slightly, he gave Lu Qiujin a goofy smile:
“I can’t walk anymore. If you can still walk, go ahead.”
“Here’s your weight. Giving it back to you.”
Luo Shizhen placed the weights on the ground and tapped “Pause” on his watch.
Without hesitation, without any unwillingness, just a little disappointment that faded quickly.
Lu Qiujin had imagined many possibilities, but not this one.
His dark eyes stared intently at this person who had absolutely no aggression:
“You wanted that passing score badly. Giving up now… are you okay with that?”
“I can’t run anymore.”
Luo Shizhen’s chest was still heaving violently, but his emotions were stable.
“The instructor said these trainings are to find our limits. I’ve reached mine. Running further would hurt my body.”
Luo Shizhen indeed wanted the passing score, but he couldn’t trade his body for it.
He had persisted to reach the limit the teacher spoke of. Now that he had reached it and couldn’t run, why continue?
Lu Qiujin couldn’t understand Luo Shizhen.
If he was truly this carefree, why work so hard these past three days?
“You held on until the last step. Giving up here… you feel no unwillingness at all?”
Luo Shizhen felt Lu Qiujin looked smart on the surface but was actually a bit dumb.
“It’s just one Tactical Training class. I didn’t make it today; maybe I will next time. You can get a passing score more than once.”
As a permanent resident of the last-place throne who still settled down to study hard, Luo Shizhen’s mentality was naturally very stable and peaceful.
Disappointment was one thing, but he couldn’t disregard his body over a little disappointment.
Being three hundred meters from the finish was the same to him as being three points short of passing an exam. Having done everything he could, even if the result wasn’t good, he wouldn’t think he did wrong.
Luo Shizhen didn’t feel any unwillingness:
“I did my best. If I didn’t succeed, I just need to rest well and try hard next time. Next time I’ll be better prepared, and I’ll definitely improve.”
His math teacher once told him: improving a little bit each time is also a victory.
Later, after saying it for half a year and realizing Luo Shizhen’s “little bit” was truly just a microscopic bit, he stopped saying it.
But Luo Shizhen remembered it. When he settled down to study, he told himself: a little bit is still progress.
Lu Qiujin forced a smile. This time, the smile wasn’t standard; it looked like a sneer:
“Next time? There is no next time. If you aren’t excellent enough, you will be eliminated.”
Luo Shizhen automatically interpreted “eliminated” as “expelled.”
His eyes widened slightly. Because of the widening, sweat dripped into them, and he blinked rapidly.
Red-rimmed from the stinging sweat, he wiped his eyes while saying:
“That won’t happen. Mr. Chen told me that if we train well, we go to strong teams; if not, we go to less strong teams. Why would we be expelled?”
He trusted Mr. Chen; Mr. Chen would absolutely not lie to him!
Luo Shizhen comforted Lu Qiujin: “Where did you hear that? It must be a rumor. Don’t believe it; the school treats us very well.”
As they spoke, Sui An received the student’s pause signal and walked over leisurely.
He was in charge of the field today, wearing a combat uniform. While walking, the explosive muscle lines hidden underneath appeared faintly like a cheetah’s.
Scanning the two students, he brought a natural, lazy pressure:
“You pressed pause?”
Luo Shizhen raised his hand honestly. “It was me. Only I pressed it; Lu Qiujin didn’t.”
He asked Sui An, “Teacher, will I be expelled for giving up training?”
“No. Even your three friends fighting like maniacs only got confinement.”
Sui An naturally heard what they were saying; he just asked knowingly.
After answering, he glanced at Lu Qiujin, whose expression was unreadable:
“Spreading rumors. For the rest of the training, you carry Luo Shizhen’s weight too.”
Sui An looked down at the data on his watch, then raised a finger. Several transparent threads invisible to the naked eye quickly wrapped around Luo Shizhen.
“Student Luo Shizhen, your physical data shows you have reached your limit. Although you didn’t reach the finish line, you achieved the training goal. Let’s go, follow me back to rest.”
Luo Shizhen went limp, wanting to sleep, but was amazed to find his body being lifted by the invisible threads.
He looked at Sui An with admiration. “Teacher, can you pass me a bottle of water?”
Being looked at with such admiration by Luo Shizhen, Sui An raised an eyebrow and tossed a bottle over.
Layers of transparent threads caught it and delivered it to Luo Shizhen’s mouth.
He asked, “Do you remember what to do when drinking water after exercise?”
Luo Shizhen instantly switched to student-answering-teacher mode:
“I remember! Sip slowly, don’t drink too much, don’t drink too fast!”
Sui An’s eyes curved slightly. Seeing such an obedient student put him in a good mood:
“Drink.”
Permission granted, Luo Shizhen hugged the water bottle.
His hands were weak from training. Fortunately, the threads unscrewed the cap for him, allowing him to lie back naturally and drink slowly, cherishing the water.
Luo Shizhen had been tired before, but seeing the teacher arrive, he relaxed completely, not worrying at all about falling from mid-air.
Teacher Sui was so amazing; he definitely wouldn’t let him fall.
Because he was too relaxed—completely unlike others who would be stiff with vigilance—and unconsciously shifted his lying position, Sui An had to use more threads to wrap around him.
It was almost like creating a cocoon.
Sui An was tolerant of obedient students. He didn’t say anything to Luo Shizhen, only glancing at Lu Qiujin:
“You haven’t reached your limit. Continue training.”
He turned around. Luo Shizhen, wrapped in layers of threads like a transparent cocoon, floated behind him.
Luo Shizhen drank some water and recovered a bit of strength. Realizing he was floating “with” Teacher Sui, he tried hard to turn his head:
“Lu Qiujin, I’m leaving first. Good luck.”
“But don’t push yourself if you reach your limit. My grandma said nothing is better than a good body. If you ruin your body from running, you can’t fix it even if you regret it later.”
For example, his grandma suffered greatly in her youth thinking her young body could handle it, only to end up full of aches and pains in old age. It was terrible.
He extended an invitation:
“Let’s go back to the dorm together after class.”
It would be perfect to review on the way back which actions wasted too much energy, causing him to have no reserves left for the end.
Big Brother taught him the training review. Unfortunately, in three days of Tactical Training, his teammates always vanished at the start, giving him no chance to review.
Now it was great. Lu Qiujin was nice and motivated; he would definitely be willing to review with him.
Thinking this, Luo Shizhen became happy again.
Being paired with a roommate meant they could share the review. Today was lucky.
Lu Qiujin stood still, watching Luo Shizhen float behind Sui An, carried away from the training area by the man in the combat uniform.
Luo Shizhen held a mineral water bottle, chuckling foolishly. His face still held the flush of exercise, and his dark eyes remained purely clear.
Silly and happy, though no one knew what he was happy about.
No unwillingness for giving up near the finish, no regret for helping carry weights. Just simply silly happy.
Lu Qiujin silently lowered his head, placed the four hundred catties of weight on himself, and ran toward the finish line.
The fatigue from high-intensity exercise, coupled with the cessation of movement and being taken over by the teacher, washed over Luo Shizhen.
His eyes struggled to stay open. In a daze, he rubbed his face against the transparent threads beneath him.
“Teacher, can I sleep?”
Sui An’s slow pace paused for half a second before resuming:
“No.”
“Clear-headed rest for ten minutes, then immediately enter the second round of soothing training.”
Given an Awakener’s stamina, ten minutes was enough to recover a bit of strength.
Only after the soothing training would today’s Tactical Class truly end.
After speaking, Sui An realized Luo Shizhen hadn’t heard him at all.
The child was too tired. trusting him completely, he had fallen asleep within the cocoon of threads.
Inspector Sui looked at Luo Shizhen.
His expression was peaceful, eyelashes trembling slightly with his breath, face still flushed. He exposed himself defenselessly before the older Awakener.
Sui An paused for a second, then his combat boots continued forward.
He lowered his head and set a ten-minute alarm on his watch.
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