The Favored Son of Heaven
The Favored Son of Heaven - Chapter 39: Last Place and First Place

Chapter 39: Last Place and First Place

Translator: Strivon  Editor: Nora

Dawn had completely broken out. Qin Fen and the others had finished their pre-breakfast training. They walked into the chow hall and were about to eat when the enormous transport ship suddenly jolted. Then it stopped moving.

At the recruit’s moment of puzzlement, the loudspeaker carried the voices of the seasoned soldiers, “Tit-suckers! Your good days are over! We’ve arrived at Australia! You have two minutes. Go to the deck immediately.”

With a few days of training under their belt, the recruits were already used to appearing at whatever location within a few minutes, as ordered. Everyone casually tossed away their plates of food, turned around, and ran toward deck.

The transport ship had long since stopped its advance within the vast ocean. It was stopped quietly at a spot some distance to port.

“Tit-suckers, do you see the continent before you?”

“Reporting as ordered, sir! Yes, sir!” The roar of two thousand people was extremely earthshaking.

     “Excellent! There are rope prepared by the ship’s railing. Right now I order you to use them to jump into the ocean and swim to shore!”

The people of the crowd, including Qin Fen, were stunned. They were to swim over? These were ocean waters. It was completely different from swimming in a pool.

One could swim a thousand meters in a swimming pool but might not be able to swim five hundred meters in the ocean. Heaven knows if there were any sharks in these ocean waters.

“What’s the matter? Have questions? If you don’t want to use the rope, I don’t mind just tossing you overboard myself.”

Before the commanding officer could finish roaring his words, people had already began to break away from formation. Everyone had learned to obey orders during their days on the ship.

“Oh right. The last one hundred people who make it to shore won’t get dinner tonight. The last one to make it to shore will make it so that his or her entire squad won’t have dinner. These are the rules of recruit boot camp!”

When these words were shouted out, the recruits began to fight over the mere ten ropes by the ship’s railing. The deck was lively beyond compare for a time.

Qin Fen stood a bit far from the ship’s railing. He sized the situation for a moment before turning around and dashing toward the bow of the ship.

“Ol’ Squad Leader, your soldier….” The commanding officer stood at the highest spot on the ship. He pointed at Qin Fen, who was moving at high speed, in great surprise, “It can’t be. He wants to….”

After several days of training, Qin Fen had a good understanding of his squad-mate Jin Kui. He was the last one to finish practically every one of their trainings. After finishing training, he would jibber jabber without end. Jin Kui just wanted the days to pass. He waited for the day when he would obtain funds after separating from the military. He would use these funds to become a businessman.

Qin Fen didn’t care if it was only Jin Kui himself who couldn’t eat dinner. But if Jin Kui got last place and caused Qin Fen to not be able to eat dinner too, well that would be too unfortunate!

Standing at the forefront of the ship, Qin Fen glanced at the ocean waters below. His heart shivered a bit, this was no diving platform a few meters high. This was a diving platform of several dozen meters. It was uncertain that the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art would be able to resist the impact from free fall.

As Qin Fen drew in a deep breath, he suddenly heard the footsteps from high speed movement coming from behind him. He turned around and revealed a faint smile. Du Peng, the recruit who refused to lose in any matter, had come to join him in jumping into the ocean.

The Dragon Elephant Prajna Art was put to peak force, and Qin Fen did a flip as he jumped into the ocean. Following closely behind was Du Peng, who drew in a cold breath seeing how tall the height was.

Boom!

    As Qin Fen stabbed deep into the ocean, the corner of Du Peng’s mouth twitched. He seemed to be condemning himself for being cowardly. Soon, he sprung toward the ocean as well.

“Squad Leader Hao, you really have all sorts of soldiers subordinate to you.”

Squad Leader Hao watched dumbstruck as well. Back when he had joined the military, he was also known to be quite courageous. But when faced with the choice of the rope or jumping into the ocean, he still chose the rope over jumping.

Then footsteps clattered like rain!

Qin Fen, who had stabbed deep into the ocean, popped his head out of the water a few dozen meters away from the ship.

He had done a few jobs back in the day for the sake of making money. Qin Fen had worked as a lifeguard by the ocean before.

As a lifeguard, one must have excellent swimming skills. For the sake of decent money, Qin Fen really did put a lot of effort into swimming.

The Dragon Elephant Prajna Art coursed through his entire body the moment he entered the water. His entire body moved like a high speed torpedo. He had zero intention of conserving his strength.

At the bridge, the squad leaders, the platoon commanders, and the company commanders revealed a bit of shock one after another. For a typical recruit, it would be hard for them to swim the five thousand miles even if they paced themselves well and relied on internal arts. Now using swimming the five thousand meter distance as if one was swimming a hundred meter sprint? It was the same as running a five-thousand meter marathon on land as if it were a hundred meter sprint. It was impossible to complete!

“Ol’ Squad Leader, this recruit of yours is too egotistical. It’s five thousand meters to shore. He’s going at full speed right out the gate? I think you’ll need to drive a speedboat to pick him up in the middle.”

The one who spoke was the squad leader of First Squad, First Platoon, Third Company, Second Battalion. This was his first time being a squad leader. All the other squad leaders had prior experience. His name was Huang Hao.

“Really?” The corner of Squad Leader Hao’s twitched in apathy. “Are you interested in making a bet? I bet that this kid can maintain this speed until he reaches shore. I bet a hundred dollars!”

“You’re on!”

Huang Hao didn’t back down. He was confident that even if it was him, a squad leader who had undergone several years of military training, in Qin Fen’s place, moving at that speed in the ocean, he would be barely able to accomplish it. It was impossible for a recruit, no matter how extraordinary, to do it.

Du Peng revealed his head in the middle of the ocean at this time. He saw Qin Fen move at super fast speeds, the wrinkle of his forehead revealing hesitation. Then decisiveness flashed in his eyes, and he copied Qin Fen in swimming at the same quick speed.

As the last recruit entered the water, a few lifeboats followed the recruits at moderate speeds. They were prepared to fish out recruits who cramped or ran completely out of strength.