"What are you afraid of?" Sun Erniu scratched the back of her head, grinned, and revealed a set of bright white teeth that stood out against her dark skin. "We Northeasterners value loyalty when we're out and about! That time in the dorm, Qiao Lin and the other two girls were holding me down. If you hadn't stood up and shouted, I don't know how badly I would have been scratched! I'll remember that for the rest of my life!"
She paused, then said in that nonchalant tone:
"Besides, what's the big deal? At worst, I'll just pack up and go home! I never really wanted to be a soldier. I'd be happy to go back to my dad's factory and keep moving iron blocks. It's tiring at the end of the day, but I can earn a few cents! It's better than living in constant fear here!"
Sun Erniu's simple, even somewhat naive, words struck Zhao Yan's heart like a heavy hammer.
Zhao Yan's eyes instantly turned red, and a layer of mist quickly spread over her, blurring the scene before her.
She has been advocating "loyalty" for over a decade, and has won over so many so-called "sisters".
But when the crucial moment came, when she was truly abandoned by everyone and treated like a plague, not a single person even glanced at her, let alone stood by her side.
On the contrary, it was Sun Erniu, whom she usually bossed around and never took seriously, who used the simplest words to tell her what "loyalty" really meant, something she always talked about but never truly understood.
Thinking back to when she went to help Sun Erniu in the dormitory, she was actually reluctant, her mind full of calculations weighing the pros and cons, thinking that she couldn't let Qiao Lin's faction dominate.
But Sun Erniu, that "fool," regarded her insignificant "help" as an immense favor and remembered it in her heart.
At this moment, Zhao Yan was so ashamed that she wanted to disappear.
She felt that the so-called "morality" and "rules" she had built up over the past ten years were a huge joke in the face of Sun Erniu's simple statement, "I'll remember this for the rest of my life."
"You...you idiot..." Zhao Yan's throat felt like it was blocked by a ball of hot cotton, her voice hoarse and nasal.
"What are you dawdling for! Hurry up, if we don't register soon, that stern-faced instructor will punish us again! We'll run out of time!" Seeing that she wasn't moving, Sun Erniu thought she was just being shy, so she didn't think much of it and grabbed her arm, striding towards the registration desk.
Zhang Man and Zhou Zhihui, who were not far away, witnessed the entire scene.
Zhou Zhihui nudged Zhang Man's arm and whispered, "I didn't expect Sun Erniu to be so loyal."
Zhang Man pushed up her black-rimmed glasses, a barely perceptible glint of shrewdness flashing in her eyes behind the lenses. She spoke softly:
"It's not about loyalty, it's about stupidity. Zhao Yan is already ruined. Su An's words have cut off all her paths in the camp. Sun Erniu is tied to her, and she's doomed in the next round of assessments."
Zhou Zhihui listened and nodded in deep agreement, her eyes filled with even more conviction as she looked at Zhang Man. She extended her hand and said, "Then we..."
Zhang Man glanced at her and shook her hand: "Of course."
The two didn't need many words; a glance, a gesture, and a new alliance was quietly formed.
Li Yue, who was cruelly abandoned by Qiao Lin, became the most pitiful person on the field. Like an unwanted commodity, she stood on the shooting range, watching the people around her leave one by one in teams.
She first tried to approach a few male soldiers with above-average shooting skills, but they all politely declined after hearing about her shooting results.
Finally, as the registration deadline was approaching, a dark-skinned, thin male soldier named Liu Dafu, who was also left behind, came over hesitantly with a blush on his face and asked her if she would like to team up.
Looking at this unremarkable male soldier, Li Yue felt a surge of resentment and humiliation, but she was even more afraid of being automatically eliminated. In the end, she gritted her teeth and forced out a "good."
When the two went to register, their faces showed a numb resignation.
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