Chapter 67: Army Competition (2)

When all the team members arrived, a military officer in charge of the competition took the folder and gathered everyone together, and announced loudly:

"The five-kilometer armed swimming originally scheduled for the afternoon was changed to the morning. Everyone rested on site for half an hour, and then boarded the bus to participate in the armed swimming!"

As soon as these words came out, the temporary camp set up near the finish line was in an uproar, especially the leaders of the divisions or brigades were clamoring. Such a decision was very disadvantageous for those behind in the ten-kilometer armed cross-country. They were not as physical as others, and they had much less rest time. Moreover, they immediately participated in armed swimming. I am afraid that many people could not hold on, so it is no wonder that the leaders reacted so much.

These are division-level leaders, and the military staff dare not offend them. He quickly explained:

"Dear leaders, this is the temporary decision of the leader of the group army, and I have no choice! Please understand!"

The implication is to ask the leader of the group army to mention it if you have any opinions, so don’t make things difficult for him, a small staff officer. When everyone heard that the leader of the group army directly issued the order, they stopped talking. The leaders began to give face-to-face advice to the participating team members of their respective units. This temporary change disrupted the deployment of many units and also made the difficulty of the competition suddenly increase a lot.

I knew this competition was not that simple. I heard that the newly appointed chief of staff of the army was very young and had already carried out a series of reforms within the army. So during the preparation stage, I thought that this competition might break the convention and be close to actual combat. Therefore, I also conducted targeted training for me, Xiao Qingyu and others. It seemed that the choice was right at that time.

I walked to Xiao Qingyu and asked in a low voice:

"Xiao Xiao, there is no problem with physical fitness!"

Xiao Qingyu's breathing was a little more even at this time. He smiled bitterly and said:

"I didn't expect that this competition would be so difficult, it's really a test! I'll try to persevere. Today I've got such a large amount of money, and now my hands and feet are soft. I hope I won't cramp when I get to the sea later..."

I patted his shoulder and said:

"Try to persevere. If it really doesn't work, don't force me. Isn't there any more to me! Take the time to rest, the competition is about to start again!"

Xiao Qingyu nodded, sat down, leaned under a tree, and used his rare rest time to close his eyes and rest.

As soon as half an hour arrived, we were asked to board several military trucks. I rested for about an hour in total, and felt that my physical strength had basically recovered. Longteng's true energy was really useful in this regard! Li Xilou and I were sitting in the same truck compartment. I looked at him and he was resting. Although the mountain roads were bumpy and the team members in the compartment were all tilted, he was very stunning and he seemed to have no problem with his physical strength.

Soon we arrived at a beach. I was not very familiar with Xiamen and didn’t know the specific location. Like the ten-kilometer off-road just now, many staff members of the group army organs were already busy.

When everyone got off the car, they were gathered together and removed all the backpacks on their bodies, wearing only a pair of training shorts. Each of them gave a lifebuoy, a training gun and a magnetic card. The lifebuoy was tied to their waists with a long rope, and they didn't know what the magnetic card was for.

The team members all showed exhausted expressions on their faces, but each of them had very resolute eyes. The soldiers of the field troops must have the spirit of not fearing difficulties and daring to challenge the limits!

A staff officer gathered us together and said loudly:

"There is a large reef directly east of you, about 2.5 kilometers away from here. There is a battery-powered instrument on the reef. When you arrive at the reef, you have to brush the magnetic card in your hand on the instrument, and then return the same route. It is still the top ten and get points. Do you understand?"

We replied loudly, "I understand!"

In the past, a staff officer was usually arranged to stay at the rebate point and register the number of each arrived team member. This time the army also changed to record it with instruments, which is an innovation in size!

The staff officer glanced at everyone and shouted:

"Set off!"

Everyone rushed into the sea, and splashed water was suddenly everywhere on the beach. I put my training gun on my back and followed the large army into the sea.

The deeper the sea water, the greater the resistance. I leaped forward until the sea water flooded my waist and began the long journey of five kilometers of armed swimming.

When we set off, everyone's speed was about the same and the personnel were relatively concentrated. Several lifeboats sent by the group army were cruising not far from our side. Once we found that a team member was in a wrong condition, we could rescue them at any time.

Breaststroke is required to use in armed swimming, which is also based on actual combat, because breaststroke is the most hidden swimming posture, only the head occasionally exposed to the water surface. For a moment, people were seen rising and falling on the sea, and everyone was swimming forward with all their might.

I have always been playing steadily. I am not in a hurry to determine the lead. Instead, I am looking for the shadows of Xiao Qingyu and Li Xilou on the sea. There are two or three hundred people scattered on the wide sea. It is indeed not easy to find the goal. It took a lot of time. I finally discovered that Xiao Qingyu was. The boy seemed to be relatively relaxed and his movements were not deformed. My heart calmed down a little.

I have never seen Li Xilou. Maybe he has learned the experience of ten kilometers of off-roading. This time he rushed to the front and wanted to gain a lead as soon as possible. When he met his opponent, this was a good idea. When he couldn't find Li Xilou, I decided not to care about his opponent and rushed to the First Group first.

I looked up at the sun, found the right direction to the east, and started to increase force. In fact, my movement frequency was not very fast, but I was efficient. I could move forward for a long distance every time I swung my arms or kicked my legs. I stretched my whole body on the sea surface, which not only saved my energy, but also was not slow.

Although the wind and waves on the sea are not very big today, I have never swam on the sea before. The shadow training base is in the desert. Our water operations are all trained in a huge swimming pool at the base. The depth and width of this swimming pool are ten times that of a standard swimming pool. Despite this, it is still impossible to simulate a strong wind and wave environment there. The only time I came back from Japan and walked from the sea, I was still in an unconscious state.

So at the beginning, I was a little uncomfortable. Even if the waves caused by the lifeboat approached a little, it would rush me to the point of being tilted. I had to redirect the direction. Occasionally, a wave came over and I had to drink two sips of salty and astringent sea water, and people would be confused for a long time, which would greatly affect my speed.

At this moment, I finally found Li Xilou's figure. He was indeed swimming slowly in the front, and he kept looking back, obviously looking for my traces. I was hit by a few waves and was not as leisurely as when I first set off. Now I discovered my main competitors. I was anxious and my movements were a little deformed, and my speed slowed down. This is what is called haste but not reaching.

At this time, my heart suddenly moved. There were strong winds and waves on the sea. If I could dive one or two meters, this situation would have improved a lot. Since I practiced Longteng, I would have no problem not breathing for several minutes. When I needed it, I could even turn to internal breathing. In that way, I could dive for a long time, and the speed would definitely be much faster than now.

I was excited to dive a little, and felt that the water was still fluctuating, so I pushed my head down and my legs, preparing to dive deeper. At this time, I suddenly felt a force pulling me up. In the water, there was no external force that could be used except for buoyancy. And such a sudden pull made me float up involuntarily.

When I floated to the water, I saw that there was no one around! Only then did I realize that there was a lifebuoy tied to my waist! The rope might be at most one or two meters long, so when I dived deeper, the rope was straightened, and the buoyancy of the lifebuoy pulled me upwards.

I smiled bitterly and patted my head, and dived into the water again. This time I didn't dive very deep, swimming forward at a depth of about two meters from the sea. It was a little calmer here than on the sea. I stretched out under the water, like a flexible fish, and the speed was much faster than on the sea.

I swam like this for about five minutes and felt that the air in my lungs was gone. This was due to the fact that after practicing Longteng, I breathed a lot longer. I could have changed my internal breathing of true qi without having to float to the surface, but after thinking about it, I still floated up and changed my breath because I was worried that the person on the lifeboat would see a lifebuoy floating but no one was seen, and thought something unexpected happened, so I went up to change my breath every once in a while.

In this way, I had already swam slowly to the forefront of the team without realizing it. From a distance, I saw Li Xilou still swimming slowly. "It's not too slow" means his movements. In fact, his speed is still very fast. He has surpassed the large army alone. At this time, we can already see the reef. In fact, it can be regarded as a small island, because it is too big to call it "reef".

I took a deep breath, still plunged into the water and swam forward. Soon, I also left the large army behind and followed Li Xilou closely. Maybe I spent more time under the water than on the water. He hadn't noticed me yet, or he had found me, but he felt that he was sure to win. Anyway, he was still swimming more than ten meters ahead of me slowly.

At this time, the lifeboats had been separated, and each ship was responsible for a distance. Because the team had already been stretched for a long time at this time, I could no longer find Xiao Qingyu when I turned back. It seemed that in order to keep the third place in the ten kilometers, his physical overdraw was too great.

Li Xilou finally found me. It was the first time he climbed the reef and found the instrument with the power supply turned on and swiped the card to walk back. As soon as he was about to get into the water, I came out of the water, which scared him. He looked at me in surprise, but didn't say anything, but jumped into the sea and began to swim back.

I didn't delay for a moment, so I rushed up to swipe the card. At this time, I didn't notice that the rocks under my feet were covered with moss. Seeing that Li Xilou had already started swimming back, I was anxious and slipped under my feet, and suddenly I lost my balance and rushed forward. When my knee was about to hit the rocks, I instinctively supported myself with my hands, and only heard a "crack" sound. A heart-wrenching pain came from my wrist. I didn't care about so much, so I got up and rushed to the instrument to swipe the card, then quickly jumped into the sea and swam towards the starting point.

At this time, my wrists were getting more and more painful. I was a little worried about whether I had broken my bones because I lost my center of gravity at that time, and the strength of my body was pressing on this hand. I sighed. If the bone was broken, it would be unlucky...

The pain on my wrist greatly affected my speed. The resistance underwater was great. Every time I paddled, it would aggravate the pain in my hand. I silently used Longteng's true energy, comforted several meridians near my wrist, and gritted my teeth and chased Li Xilou.

When I went back, it was much more difficult than when I came over. I had consumed a lot of physical strength. Now my wrist was injured again. Li Xilou obviously accelerated and wanted to throw me away in one fell swoop. I gritted my teeth and endured the pain and chased me all the way.

Li Xilou and I both chose a slightly longer route, with the purpose of avoiding the subsequent troops. Although the distance is a little longer, it may be more time-saving.

I have been gritting my teeth and persevering in these two armed swimming over a kilometer. I feel that the level of this competition is very high, and even a shadow like me feels challenged. It shows how hard other officers and soldiers are. I have never been able to catch up with Li Xilou. The group army organizes sea training every year. I guess I am the only team member who has not participated in sea training. Li Xilou has obviously much richer experience at sea than me.

Everyone on the beach could see clearly. I was always behind Li Xilou. He seemed to have never been in a hurry from beginning to end. His movements were always slow, but he was so fast. I tried my best to catch up, but I never surpassed him. Recently, I even felt that I was about to touch his feet, but I was always behind. This scene was very similar to the scene of the ten-kilometer off-road just now, but the leader and the laggards were all adjusted.

I watched Li Xilou successfully climbed the beach and won the first place in this project. I ranked second by one minute. When Li Xilou saw me coming ashore, he took the initiative to come over and said to me with a smile:

"Company Commander Lu, I have participated in the sea training for five years. I have taken advantage of it in the sea competition!"

I said while gasping:

"I'm so tired. I haven't tried my best to chase someone for a long time. Comrade Li Xilou, I admire you very much!"

Li Xilou said with a smile:

"I am the company commander of the reconnaissance company of the xxx regiment. You also know that there are many trainings in our group army on maritime subjects. I was here when I was in the army, and you only came this year! So I won't be brave!"

I also smiled and said:

"Captain Li, don't be humble anymore. We have played the first two games in a draw. Although tomorrow's event is small, I believe it will be very exciting. Captain Li must not show mercy! Finally, he met the opponent. You must be really good at swords and guns to be strong enough!"

Li Xilou laughed:

"The heroes have similar views! Company Commander Lu, what you said is what I want to say! Everyone should work hard tomorrow!"

I nodded and said, "Yeah! Work hard!"
Chapter completed!