Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 595 - 584: Devil Training (Part 3)

As the distance steadily increased, Wang Qiang started to consider giving up, but as his mind wavered, the others continued running tirelessly.

Sometimes people are just such contradictory beings. Even if they're extremely unwilling to do something, even if their hearts are full of grievances and complaints, once some sort of authority or discipline is established, they will reflexively carry it out.

Xu Renjie has effectively introduced this punishment mechanism into the training, and honestly, this punishment is quite harsh.

However, with his many years of experience leading soldiers, he believes that everything he has established is within the capabilities of the people in front of him. Therefore, the "reward" of 50 push-ups should only be considered a small punishment.

From another perspective, it's precisely this motivational system that makes everyone present persist without giving up.

After all, the last person truly has to do an extra 50 push-ups.

Xu Renjie closely followed at the end of the team, not to supervise them, but because with the current system in place, he didn't need to worry about anyone being lazy or trying to be clever.

His main reason for running was to provide a form of protection. After all, this was the post-apocalyptic world. Although there shouldn't be any annoying zombies appearing on this route, it's merely theoretical; nobody can be sure of their range of activity.

If it were in normal times, he wouldn't worry about the safety of the team because with their current capabilities, unless they encounter a horde, wandering zombies alone wouldn't pose a threat.

But today is an exception; their physical exertion is significant. If they encounter zombies, there's no guarantee no complications will arise.

So, as a precaution, Old Xu carried weapons and followed behind, which also served as a model for the team members.

For the initial 800 meters, the running speed of the five showed no significant difference. But upon closer observation, you'd find Wang Zhongyu and Hu Xiaodong are quite particular about their breathing, unlike the chaotic inhales and exhales of the other three. As the distance increases, the advantages of this breathing become increasingly apparent, and Wang and Hu gradually widen the gap from the others.

At the 1500-meter mark, the entire team divided into three groups: Wang Zhongyu and Hu Xiaodong were at the front, both breathing evenly and stepping steadily, showing no signs of trouble.

The second group consisted of Bi Dahu, Yue Guishan, and A Cheng. Although they didn't have the racing and athlete backgrounds like Wang and Hu, their long years working on construction sites, exposed to the elements, have given them strong physiques and endurance, allowing them to handle the run.

The situation was worst for the third group: Wu Chao, Wang Qiang, Tang Xiaoquan, and Wenquan Xin. Typically more sedentary, students lacking exercise, they were now all out of breath, paying the price for their past laziness.

Old Xu closely followed at the tail end of the team, running unhurriedly and calmly, occasionally reminding those running last not to fall behind and habitually resorting to sarcastic remarks:

"Are you turtles? Running like you're crawling? Are you even men? The female soldiers in our troop run faster than you. I'm telling you, don't think I'm joking. Whoever reaches the finish line last will get rewarded with 50 push-ups. If you arrive together, you'll all be rewarded!"

A burst of passionate encouragement indeed, with a reward of 50 push-ups for lagging behind, the invisible pressure and sarcasm in Old Xu's words pushed the struggling few in the third group to accelerate and sprint desperately.

Absolutely cannot be last—Wang Qiang looked around and quickly clarified his strategy.

Undoubtedly, the weakest in the team right now was his buddy Tang Xiaoquan; as the saying goes, if you aim to crush a soft spot, Wang Qiang chose Tang Xiaoquan as his competitor.

He believed as long as he could stay ahead of Tang Xiaoquan, he certainly wouldn't end up last.

Thus, Wang Qiang began to accelerate. If you were capturing aerial footage at this moment, you'd notice Wang Qiang's moving trajectory was fast at times and slow at others. Simply put, once Tang Xiaoquan caught up from behind, he'd immediately speed up to widen the gap.

Conversely, if Tang Xiaoquan fell behind, he'd slow down and adjust his breathing.

Unfortunately, his clever approach resulted in trouble over the longer distances.

Conversely, Tang Xiaoquan, too aware of his lesser stamina, didn't set Wang Qiang next to him as a target but rather focused on Bi Dahu at the tail end of the second group farther ahead.

He did this out of necessity, recognizing Wang Qiang's tactics and knowing the latter was using him as a benchmark.

So, to avoid his rhythm being disrupted, Tang Xiaoquan decided to fixate on Bi Dahu ahead, believing that as long as he kept Bi Dahu within eye shot, there was hope to succeed.

Both Wang and Tang, brothers in spirit, were using self-believed good methods in their battle of strength. After a short 2.5 kilometer round-trip, Tang Xiaoquan's plan bore fruit. Though he'd worn himself almost to death, contrasting with Wang Qiang, the alternating fast and slow rhythm not only failed to achieve his goal but unnecessarily consumed great energy.

So was Wang Qiang's strategy wrong? No, his strategy wasn't wrong at all. If there was an error, it's in overestimating his own ability. If Hu Xiaodong were to execute such a strategy, the effect would be a hundred times stronger. It ultimately comes down to whether one can master the rhythm of breathing during exercise.

It's clear that Wang Qiang is an outsider in this regard.

"You two good-for-nothings, seeing that you're at least making an effort, I'll teach you the essentials for long-distance running: three steps per inhale, three steps per exhale. If you don't want to be last, you better try practicing." Old Xu yelled, his voice echoing across the empty mountain-road, making Tang Xiaoquan suspect the man might actually be a beast.

After all, Old Xu has been running together with him all along, but looking at himself compared with Old Xu, the gap is just too disheartening.

At the 4 kilometer mark, almost everyone, including Hu Xiaodong, showed signs of fatigue. Hu Xiaodong, although his breathing became heavy, consistently upheld the "three steps per inhale, three steps per exhale" technique from Old Xu's advice, keeping his pace steady without any signs of disorder.

On the other hand, Wang Zhongyu, who was initially alongside him in the first group, was slowly left behind, sweat pouring from his forehead like an open faucet.

Bi Dahu's pace was also slowing down; he now felt like his heart was an old blower, just making huffing sounds but unable to generate much air.

Tang Xiaoquan, leading Wang Qiang by a distance of approximately 500 meters, gradually realized he too had made a fundamental error in his decision-making by blindly following Lu Gang ahead, naively assuming that by simply staying close, he could ultimately shake off Wang Qiang.

Indeed, he succeeded in doing so, but similarly, he hadn't adequately assessed his own strength.

Absolutely, had he persisted staying in Bi Dahu's shadow, he'd certainly not fail.

But the crux of the problem lies with his bodily functions failing to provide sufficient energy needed for this extraneous following endeavor as the distance stretches ever longer.

Bi Dahu can keep running, but he was already at the end of his tether, unable to move any farther. (To be continued. If you like this work, you're invited to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com) with recommendation tickets or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)