Entering mid-to-late January, the flavor of the New Year is getting stronger and stronger. But for the cadets participating in the intensive training, what is the smell of the New Year? Is it the heavy smell of sweat, the smoke of explosions, the chemical poison gas that permeates the mountains, or the stinky water in the mud pond?

As for the flavor of dumplings with thin skin and many fillings, the ink fragrance of the red Spring Festival couplets, and the taste of New Year's goods like killing chickens and slaughtering sheep......

None of this exists.

Perhaps, the meaning of their existence is to let all the people enjoy the "New Year's flavor" safely and happily!

This military confrontation was hosted by HKUST, and they were the host. Originally, the pressure was not small, and the school leaders gave a dead order - among the two participating teams, one group must win the championship, and the "Sword of Jingwu" must not fall into the hands of others; and the second group must win the ranking in order to ensure that they compete for three. All students must keep the honor of the school with blood, sweat and even tears!

Every "must" popped out of the principal's mouth word by word, which is enough to see the importance he attaches to this competition. Among the two teams that participated, Qiao Nan's group was a seeded team, and his brain was so hot that he immediately made a military order - if Loulan is not broken, it will not be returned!

The school leaders admired Qiao Nan very much and had high hopes for him. Especially the grandfather of the vice principal, who said that he was "kind and kind", patted him on the shoulder before his training camp and said, "Don't let me down!"

The old grandfather has always favored him, although Qiao Nan was caught playing games, but he did not shake his grandfather's trust in him. Qiao Nan has a "criminal record" for making mistakes, and he can still represent the school, which is naturally inseparable from the appreciation and expectations of all teachers, including the vice principal!

Looking at the white-haired old principal, Qiao Nan stood straight, saluted a very standard military salute, and said emotionally: "Please rest assured, chief!"

The two HKUST teams were selected from intramural competition. If this military competition is compared to a table tennis World Championships, then HKUST is like a Chinese team with a cloud of masters, and it is much more difficult to defeat their own teammates than other world teams. And it is not easy for Qiao Nan to stand out from within the University of Science and Technology.

The group led by Qiao Nan is composed of sophomores and juniors, no young freshmen, no older seniors, and they can be described as the backbone of the school. The second group is mainly composed of freshmen and sophomores, and there are one or two juniors, focusing on training newcomers.

They are now in a training base of HKUST, deep in the mountains and old forests, in the wilderness, and in the bitter cold wind. A group of young men in their twenties are going to train here for almost a month. Qiao Nan didn't participate in last year's competition because of injury, and this year is the only chance, even if others don't put pressure on him, he is holding back his strength, and there is no reason not to fight for the first place. So no matter what the project, he is very dedicated.

Those who can represent the school in the competition are the elites of each team, and their personal qualities are beyond doubt. But this competition is a team competition after all, Qiao Nan is the captain and the commander on the field, how to twist this group of young people into a rope and maximize the strength of the team is the primary task in front of him.

It has been more than ten days since the training camp, and every training has been carried out in an orderly manner. A reporter from a military channel has been following them, saying that it will eventually be made into a documentary. Qiao Nan asked him, will this be broadcast on TV?

The reporter nodded firmly, but Qiao Nan was faintly worried - I hope I don't let my mother see it, otherwise her nervous breakdown will worsen.

Because the training was so hard, so bitter that these boys couldn't bear to recall it a second time.

The first part of the competition is to jump over obstacles and then shoot with small arms. First of all, you must leap over the serpentine barbed wire, then crawl over the obstacles, and if you get scratched, you will be deducted points.

When crossing the serpentine net, the students all seemed to fly, and it was a great time to take promotional photos, which Jolene had also seen in magazines. But it is not easy to really step over in style, and in front of this cold behemoth, many people will fall behind.

Qiao Nan demonstrated them over and over again, but some people were still scraped with barbed wire, especially his Tibetan roommate Tsering. Although this Tibetan guy has physical fitness, his body is not flexible enough, and he frequently deducts points in the first level, which will undoubtedly affect the subsequent games.

"How many times have I told you, take a bigger step, step forward, don't worry about falling!" Qiao Nan shouted so loudly that his voice was a little hoarse, and he didn't feel comfortable reprimanding his friend like this. But he's the captain, and he has to be ruthless, make everyone face their shortcomings, and then strike with precision and break them one by one.

They are all arrogant elite soldiers, and being robbed of their peers like this, Tsering feels very uncomfortable, especially since there are some sophomores in the team, which makes him very faceless. He couldn't help but argue: "There are many more competitions, how can everyone achieve a perfect score in every item? Even if I deduct a few points in the first level, I can just win it back later." ”

Qiao Nan, who has always been good-tempered, did not compromise, and insisted on his opinion very stubbornly: "After crossing the obstacles, I will immediately shoot in a lying position, and the whole process is only eight minutes. If you cross the hurdle now, you will not be able to get on the rope, and when you are nervous during the race, you are more likely to make mistakes. If you get caught in your clothes, you will not only have to deduct points, but you will also have to waste time untying them, and by the time you climb to the shooting table, you will already be out of breath, how can you aim and shoot? If there is a little more accident, you will not even have time to change the magazine! This is the first project, and it has a huge impact on the morale of our whole team. Besides, this shortcoming can be improved in a short period of time, so why can't we do our best and be foolproof?"

Maybe in the eyes of other students, Qiao Nan said such a big list, he couldn't help but think too much, but the instructor showed a relieved smile on the side - take precautions, take one step and see five steps, and can be reasonable, a good material for a commander.

Tsering was reprimanded by Qiao Nan, and immediately pulled down his face. The instructor patted him on the shoulder and teased, "Lost the debate?"

For competitive people, "losing" is a very unlucky word. But Tsering really couldn't say anything about Qiao Nan, so he had to bite his lip and remain silent.

The instructor suddenly became serious: "Since you can't say the captain, then do what the captain says." ”

Qiao Nanqiang held back his emotions and said calmly: "If everything is according to actual combat, you should obey the captain." Now I command, everybody, do it all over again, until everybody can get through the obstacle safely and unmistakably! I'll do a demonstration first, and you guys will follow!"

With that, Qiao Nan took a deep breath, sprinted and jumped perfectly, and then landed firmly in front of the serpentine net. When he stood up, he stumbled slightly, but it didn't prevent the whole movement from flowing smoothly, like a textbook.

The other team members felt the pressure and were also stimulated, and the young eyes burned with the flame of not admitting defeat. Finally, the boss difficult Tsering also passed smoothly, and after finding the trick, his whole body became lighter.

After several more drills, the crew had less than three minutes to pass through the obstacles, and there was enough time to adjust their breathing and fire with small arms. These trainees are still very good at marksmanship, as long as they breathe smoothly and their heartbeat is steady, they can easily play their best.

At the end of the last training session in the morning, Qiao Nan took the lead in applauding and giving a thumbs up to his comrades. Although Tsering was still a little embarrassed, Qiao Nan had already put his arms around his shoulders and praised sincerely: "Good job!"

Although Tsering didn't say anything, he agreed with the captain's point of view in his heart, and silently bumped his fist with him. Qiao Nan smiled happily, revealing a row of big white teeth.

Tsering vaguely felt that something was wrong and asked, "Captain, are you okay?"

"After training for so many days, how can it be okay? Who has no injuries on his body?" Qiao Nan took off his helmet and shouted at the team members: "Go to the team doctor to see if you hang the lottery, don't take it seriously!"

There was already a long queue at the team doctor, and Qiao Nan seized the rare free time and lay down on the grass. The instructor kicked him lightly and asked, "I saw that you didn't land very steadily just now, and the injury on your leg is okay, right?"

"I watched it yesterday, and the team doctor said that there was nothing wrong and it would not affect the game. Qiao Nan said lightly.

"You climbed too hard when you crossed the obstacle yesterday, didn't you? You just told them about it, why do you still demonstrate it over and over again, aren't you afraid that the strain will get worse again?"

"I'm afraid I can't say it clearly, everyone is in a hurry, and the most intuitive way is for me to show them. Qiao Nan said honestly.

The instructor put away his smile and threatened: "Don't give me any energy, you kid, we will all treat you as a trump card in this competition, if you quit due to injury in the end, then wait for expulsion!"

Perhaps shocked by the instructor's words, Qiao Nan got up from the ground and said seriously: "Unless this game is not held, it is impossible for me to quit." ”

The instructor smiled with satisfaction, and then kicked Qiao Nan again: "Then take care, stinky boy!"

After lunch, there was a short break to recuperate, and Tsering gave up rest and kept practicing climbing over obstacles. Qiao Nan didn't dare to demonstrate anymore, and only guided him on the side. There were even more severe tests in the afternoon, and he didn't want to exhaust his physical strength early.

Qiao Nan seriously doubted that these instructors were all smiling tigers who seemed to care about the students, but they could torture these students to death with a calm order.

For example, there is an orienteering competition and a field march, both of which require a lot of physical fitness and a good sense of direction. The competition stipulates that the weight is 25 kilograms, and the instructor asks the students to carry 35 kilograms.

For another example, to find a fixed point within a radius of five kilometers, the instructor gave them a map and asked them to find the location of 10 fixed points within 2 hours. After getting the map, I found that the group of bastards (Qiao Nan's belly) actually set the fixed point on the opposite side of a river, and they couldn't find a better way for a while, so they could only swim over with all their staff.

But by the time they returned to the camp, it had been more than two hours, and the group of bastards (still Qiao Nan's belly) said that all the results were cleared, let them go to the playground to run 400 meters, and then recite the chief's speech. This group of students did not dare to complain, swallowed fatigue and dissatisfaction, and obediently accepted the punishment.

The daily training is repeated, and under high pressure, Qiao Nan has no energy to think about anything else. While the rest of the team was resting, he was still going through everyone's strengths over and over again in order to find the best combination mode. In the darkness of the night, he blinked his eyes and vowed to win a beautiful first and proudly raise the "Elite Sword" to the sky.

Before joining the army, he would also dream of those special forces kings. But after joining the army, he realized that where there are soldiers who come and go freely and are free all over the world, where there are people who admire and are surrounded by beautiful women, and there are just endless learning and training, which are so boring and cumbersome that they are outrageous.

But even so, Qiao Nan never regretted it, and his blood was never cold.

(Almost 20 pages of notes were taken to write the "Elite" chapters.) Thanks to the friends who provided the material, thanks to the documentary ^^)