"Go quickly, wash your hands and eat."

Gu Yanlin obediently went to the bathroom to wash his hands, shook the water off his hands, and sat down at the dining table.

On the dining table was a 6-inch cake with a message wishing the younger brother a successful enlistment.

This cake was made by Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao together during Gu Yanlin's assessment. Of course, Song Zhao made the main part of the cake, and Gu Yanzhi's contribution was only the few words on the cake.

Besides the cake, there were several dishes that Gu Yanlin liked on the table: braised pork, fresh bamboo shoots, braised eggplant, cumin lamb, oyster sauce lettuce, and a plate of small salted melons that looked very appetizing.

Gu Yanlin first served himself a bowl of fresh bamboo shoots and bamboo shoot soup. He took a sip of the soup, and it was so delicious that his eyebrows almost fell off.

The bamboo shoots are crisp and tender, making a crisp sound when you bite into them. The rich, savory flavor of the salted pork contrasts sharply with the refreshing taste of the bamboo shoots, creating a complex and delicious flavor profile.

"tasty"

Gu Yanlin exclaimed in praise, then buried his head back in the bowl and began to eat with relish.

After dinner, the three of them cut the cake and happily celebrated Gu Yanlin joining the team.

Gu Yanlin was preparing to enlist in the army. The team, which was originally 10 people, was short one person, and the ice-breaking team of Building 10 was disbanded.

However, this did not affect the other people in Building 10.

A day earlier, when the residents of Building 10 went to collect their pay, they took Chu Guodong's advice and each received supplies that would last them about a year.

Apart from Gu Yanlin and Zhuang Nanyang, the others, with the help of Chu Guodong, successfully entered government departments to work.

The government and military officials promised to give them eight jobs for the extra supplies they had. Gu Yanlin was going to join Team 532, but he didn't need to. Zhuang Nanyang also wanted to join Team 532, but because his physical condition was not up to standard, he joined another rescue team as a temporary soldier through Chu Guodong's recommendation.

Temporary soldiers are a temporary measure devised by the military to expand recruitment. Given the current situation, large-scale recruitment is not feasible. Candidates selected by each squad can join as temporary soldiers and work there until the military's large-scale recruitment begins. After participating in intensive training, they will be reassigned to their original squads or, after serving for one year and passing an assessment, will be promoted to permanent soldiers.

Unlike Gu Yanlin, who was selected directly into the military through a special forces team, Zhuang Nanyang still needs to wait for the army to recruit or undergo a year of assessment and observation before he can become a regular soldier.

Temporary soldiers have their advantages. They receive the same treatment as regular soldiers, and if they want to leave the army, they only need to apply to the captain a month in advance and get his approval. However, in this case, they are not allowed to rejoin any army.

For regular soldiers like Gu Yanlin, a certain number of years of service are required for discharge.

There were exactly 8 job openings, enough for the remaining 8 people in the ice-breaking team to share. Each person contributed a certain amount of supplies to buy the shares held by the others, so that no one would suffer a loss and the neighborhood relations could be better maintained.

The next three days were the most comfortable three days of this period. There was no need to go out to work early, nor was there any sense of urgency to worry about training and learning in the future. After all, there would be plenty of training in the future.

Aside from going out to collect supplies once, Gu Yanlin spent the last three days playing at home.

The specific schedule is as follows: sleep until the afternoon, eat breakfast, and take care of the ginger planted on the 17th floor. Under the careful care of Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao, the ginger has grown many leaves.

Seeing the row of lush green stems and leaves in the planting pot, even though he didn't like the taste of ginger, Gu Yanlin felt a surge of joy in the white expanse of winter where no other colors could be seen.

After simply watering the ginger, Gu Yanlin spent the rest of his time either playing games in the game room or lounging on the sofa watching movies, finally experiencing the same joy that Gu Yanzhi had felt lying around at home recently.

On the morning of the day he joined the team, when the alarm clock rang, Gu Yanlin reluctantly snuggled into the warm blankets before getting up and quietly leaving home.

On his first day in the unit, Gu Yanlin didn't eat breakfast at home. Since soldiers' benefits include three meals a day, Gu Yanlin planned to experience the food in the army first.

"Knock knock knock"

"Yan Lin is here! Come in quickly!"

The reporting location was on the 14th floor. Zhao Rui opened the door and greeted Gu Yanlin with unusual enthusiasm.

Gu Yanlin was bewildered by his enthusiasm, but didn't think much of it, assuming it was just that his good friend was happy to be on the same team as him in the future. Unbeknownst to him, Zhao Rui wore a sinister smile after closing the door.

"Reporting, Captain! Deputy Captain! Recruit Gu Yanlin reporting for duty!"

As he entered, Chu Guodong and Lin Cheng were talking in the living room. Gu Yanlin stood up straight, gave a not-so-standard military salute, and said loudly.

It's normal that Gu Yanlin's military salute wasn't quite standard since he hadn't undergone rigorous training. Chu Guodong didn't say much, just patted Gu Yanlin on the shoulder.

Now that everyone's here, let's get ready to go.

In the morning, they have to run to the garrison where they were last assessed to have breakfast, and only after breakfast will they be assigned their specific tasks for the day.

The garrison point is about 10 kilometers away from Building 10. If you can't get there within half an hour, breakfast will be gone.

Gu Yanlin, who was joining the army for the first time, was a little stunned.

At Chu Guodong's shout of "Start!", everyone else hurriedly ran outside.

"Aren't you leaving yet?" Chu Guodong's toe was almost hitting Gu Yanlin's butt when Gu Yanlin suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly ran out.

The rest of the team, who were familiar with this routine, had already run down almost two floors. The last person to leave thoughtfully closed the door and tied it to the window with a rope.

No need to guess, it was Zhao Rui's doing. Zhao Rui was in a great mood, humming a song as he ran. Gu Yanlin had been having such a comfortable time these past few days, while they had suffered terribly, their training had doubled, and they were exhausted like dogs every day. This was a little revenge.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" a teammate asked, noticing Zhao Rui's animated expression and humming. "Did this guy take the wrong medicine this morning? He's acting so strange."

"You'll find out soon enough," Zhao Rui said mysteriously.

Gu Yanlin took a little time to pull the door open.

Zhao Rui only wanted to cause Gu Yanlin some minor trouble and get a little revenge on him; he didn't intend to really do anything to him. The rope was made of thin sewing thread that he had specially asked Aunt Zhuang for; it could be torn with a little force.

As soon as the door opened, Gu Yanlin didn't care about anything else and rushed downstairs. By now, the five people ahead of him were almost a kilometer behind.

"I knew it was you who did this!"

Gu Yanlin quickly caught up with the group and, standing next to Zhao Rui, heard his cheerful singing. How could he not understand?

"Damn, how did you get here so fast?" Zhao Rui stared wide-eyed at Gu Yanlin's sudden appearance, his face filled with disbelief. He hadn't intended to cause him much trouble, but he hadn't expected Gu Yanlin to be so quick.

According to his plan, he should be able to delay Gu Yanlin for about 5 minutes. Their team's average time for 10 kilometers is about 25 minutes, so delaying Gu Yanlin for 5 minutes would be just enough for him to catch the tail end of lunch.

I didn't expect that before I was even halfway there, this guy had already overtaken me.

"That's real skill. I'm off!" Gu Yanlin grinned smugly at the person next to him and ran past him.