Strongest Soldier King

"That's fine, then. From now on, the rifle is yours to take care of, go to the ammunition depot yourself to fetch three standard rounds of ammunition. If it's not enough, get more on your own, and you won't have to participate in these kinds of training anymore," the female officer said coldly, staring intensely at Luo Zheng as if she saw through his thoughts but did not object.

Luo Zheng was startled, feeling the protection of the female officer and growing more puzzled. He couldn't help but size her up. When the female officer noticed Luo Zheng's scrutinizing gaze, she turned around and asked the instructor, "Instructor, you don't have a problem with this arrangement, do you?"

The instructor couldn't wait for Luo Zheng to be exempt from training. Hearing this arrangement, he agreed without hesitation, and the female officer told Luo Zheng, "Okay, take the gun, you can get lost now."

"Yes, sir!" Luo Zheng responded loudly, ran to pick up the Type 88 sniper rifle and the bullets beside it, and dashed straight to the ammunition depot. After getting three standard rounds of ammunition, he returned to the canteen, dismantled the rifle in a few quick motions, and hid the parts separately to avoid being discovered. As for the trigger, he put it in his pocket to carry with him, just in case someone took the chance to steal the rifle while he was away - even if they did, without the trigger they could do no harm. Luo Zheng had heard of such incidents back in the boot camp, and he wasn't taking any chances.

After concealing the rifle and ammunition, Luo Zheng put on a cloth band and exited through the window, heading to the back mountain to practice combat skills. After running through the third set of military boxing twice, he tied the cloth band around his palm and continued training against a large tree, treating it as an enemy, punching it fiercely while contemplating whether he should make a wooden dummy one day, as that might yield better training results.

Three hours later, Luo Zheng came down the mountain and headed back to the canteen. He checked on the weapons and ammunition first to ensure everything was secure and then started cooking. To maintain his stay there, and for the sake of having weapons and ammunition to train with, Luo Zheng didn't mind cooking for everyone. After all, he had to eat as well, so he took it as a way to give back.

Not long after the meal was ready, the bugle call to eat sounded, and a large number of people came in. Luo Zheng saw the female officer, the instructor, and other leaders enter and head to a private room designated for leaders' meals. Without giving it much thought and preparing to rest in his bedroom, someone suddenly hurled a mess tin at him.

It was too close and too sudden to dodge; the mess tin hit Luo Zheng. Since the mess tin was made of metal, a corner cut his face, drawing blood. The person hurriedly came up to help Luo Zheng up, apologizing, "Sorry, it was an accident, the floor is too slippery."

Luo Zheng slowly got to his feet and gave the man a cold stare—it was Song Yang. The floor was very dry; it couldn't possibly be slippery enough to cause an accident. Moreover, the throw had been violent, clearly intentional. Luo Zheng suddenly stepped forward, shouldering into Song Yang with a fierce bump to the chest. Song Yang agilely dodged and ran off, shouting as he went, "Luo Zheng is hitting people!"

Everyone gathered around in surprise, not understanding what had happened; they inadvertently blocked Luo Zheng's path. Luo Zheng swept his cold gaze over the crowd and turned to leave. After taking a few steps, he heard Song Yang's sharp voice demand, "Asshole, what do you mean by that? Wasn't it just an accident that I bumped into you? The floor was slippery, I couldn't help it. Plus, I've already apologized. Why did you still hit me?"

"Is that so?" Luo Zheng, with an iron complexion, stared at Song Yang, then coldly addressed the crowd wanting to take sides, "Song Yang, you're trying to set me up, aren't you? If you're brave enough, let's have a one-on-one fight, and settle this once and for all. Regardless of life or death, let's not bring these underhanded tricks out to disgust everyone."

"What tricks, what grudge? We have no grudge," Song Yang flatly denied.

"What happened?" The instructor, hearing the argument outside, strode out to see what was going on. He roughly understood the situation but still barked out loudly, locking his gaze on Luo Zheng with an iron-blue face.

"Reporting to the instructor, the ground was slippery just now and I accidentally bumped into this comrade. I've already apologized, but he attacked me relentlessly and even slandered me, wanting to fight me to the death," Song Yang accused first to gain the upper hand.

"Does anyone have proof?" asked the instructor coldly. It was obvious to everyone that the instructor was preparing to take sides. With the previous incident as an example, no one was foolish enough to not realize that there was something more to the instructor's relationship with Song Yang. They all claimed to have seen Luo Zheng chasing and hitting Song Yang, which was, of course, the truth.

Everyone had only seen the end, not the beginning, so Luo Zheng did not blame them, but he just looked coldly at Song Yang and the instructor. Displeased with Luo Zheng's dismissive expression, the instructor snapped, "What do you have to say for yourself with everyone's testimony? If you have nothing, then you can pack up and leave first thing tomorrow morning – from where you came, you shall return. The Training Team does not need someone who attacks their comrades. I will report this as it happened. Alright, everyone disperse," he said, heading towards his office without giving Luo Zheng a chance to refute.

Everyone knew there was a problem here. The looks they gave Luo Zheng were full of sympathy. Luo Zheng soon realized that all of this was a setup by Song Yang, giving the instructor a reason to get rid of him. He had no regrets and didn't bother explaining, instead, he turned to leave.

"Wait a second." A woman's voice rang out loudly. Everyone halted and turned towards the sound, realizing it was a female officer approaching.

Luo Zheng looked at the female officer in surprise. The disgruntled instructor asked, "What do you have to say?" The word of the Training Team's instructor was law, so naturally, he was displeased with someone challenging his authority so openly. His gaze towards the female soldier grew dissatisfied.

"Can such a dry surface be slippery?" The female officer didn't even glance at the instructor. Instead, she looked at the others and coldly countered, "Will an accidental collision cause such a deep wound?"

Looking down at the ground and then at the wound on Luo Zheng's face, which was still bleeding, they all began to wonder. Their glances towards Song Yang changed; everyone here was sharp enough to have stood out from the large military region and make it to this training, none were fools.

Song Yang, seeing the situation developing beyond his expectation, gave an astonished look at the female officer and sent a glance towards the instructor. Knowing it was his turn to intervene, the instructor looked at the female officer in disbelief and said coldly, "Alright, it's over. You, go to the infirmary and have your wound treated first. I will investigate this matter, anything else can wait until after the investigation."

The smarter ones knew what was going on with this approach to smooth things over, but with the instructor's authority being the highest here, no one dared to contradict him. They dispersed. The female officer approached Luo Zheng, and there was a touch of tenderness in her otherwise ice-cold eyes—a look that deeply shocked Luo Zheng, making him superimpose her with someone else in disbelief.

The female officer, seeing that Luo Zheng had recognized her, said in an unchanged tone, "Come with me."