"Hey, isn't this our burden? You really think you can become a sharpshooter in seven days?"
"Exactly, they're hopeless; it's a waste of effort."
But gradually, they stopped laughing.
They were shocked to discover that Chen Xiaocao's grades were improving at a visible rate.
From initially missing the target, hitting the three or four rings, to later stabilizing at the six or seven rings, and then occasionally hitting the eight or even nine rings.
In just one week, her marksmanship went from being at the bottom of the class who was almost eliminated to being in the middle to upper ranks!
This immediately drew the attention of the unassuming girl throughout the entire training camp.
Those who had once mocked her now instinctively shut their mouths when they passed by the shooting range, their eyes filled with a complex mix of disbelief and unease.
All of this naturally fell into the eyes of those who were interested.
Not far from the shooting range, Jiang Yan was doing shooting training, but his gaze kept drifting involuntarily towards Su Tang and Chen Xiaocao.
He could see that the girl named Su An was training her seemingly weakest teammate in an unbelievable way every day.
"Are you crazy?" Jiang Yan's roommate Meng Shi asked curiously while doing push-ups next to her, "What kind of bewitching potion did Su An give her? Training like this, she's going to ruin her health? That's too naive."
Jiang Yan put down the gun, picked up a towel to wipe his sweat, but did not answer. His deep eyes flashed with increasingly intense curiosity.
But by evening, when everyone was exhausted and lying in bed, Chen Xiaocao's "special training" had just entered its core phase.
In the innermost corner of the dormitory, Su Tang lit a small kerosene lamp.
Under the dim light, she unfolded a drawing she had made with a pencil, which depicted the shapes of various plants.
"This is called wolfsbane. Its roots, stems, and leaves are all highly poisonous. Ingestion will kill you within half an hour. However, its sap, when applied in small amounts, can create the illusion of skin ulceration. Remember the shape of its leaves, three leaves at a time."
"This is called 'horse mulberry'. It looks a lot like a mulberry, but its fruit contains horse mulberry toxin, which can cause poisoning of the nervous system, hallucinations, and even epilepsy. The difference is that its fruit stalk is longer and its color is more purplish-red, rather than blackish-purple."
"And this, the 'Phallus spp.', also known as 'the blue lily,' has a strong hallucinogenic effect. But if you mix it with another plant called 'the throat-locking herb' and crush it, the resulting gas can paralyze an adult man in a short time."
Su Tang's voice was soft, yet it reached Chen Xiaocao's ears clearly.
Instead of simply reading from the book, she explained the characteristics, uses, camouflage properties, and even the effects of combining each plant with other plants in great detail.
This knowledge is completely beyond the scope of any plant atlas of this era.
Chen Xiaocao listened intently. She had grown up in the mountains and thought she knew everything about herbs, but now she realized that her knowledge was nothing compared to Su Tang's.
Like a dried-up sponge, she frantically absorbed this unheard-of knowledge, and then used her amazing memory to firmly engrave the shape, smell, and characteristics of each plant in her mind.
The night before the assessment.
The dormitory was quiet.
After more than a week of grueling training, Chen Xiaocao was completely transformed.
She had lost weight and gotten darker, but her eyes were surprisingly bright. Gone was the timidity and inferiority she once had; in their place was a deep-seated resilience and confidence.
Su Tang instructed Chen Xiaocao, "Remember, you don't need to compete with anyone in marksmanship or hand-to-hand combat. You only need to do three things."
"First, stick close to me."
"Second, trust your nose and eyes."
"Third, use all the flowers and plants you've memorized."
"They all thought I was the ace of our group."
Su Tang looked into Chen Xiaocao's eyes and said clearly, word by word:
"But they were all wrong."
"Tomorrow, you will be."
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