Chapter 156

After the first two rounds of utterly ridiculous training, a strange tacit understanding seemed to have formed between the recruits of the Gale Battalion and Li Rufeng. They both looked forward to the challenges brought by the new training and harbored a secret anxiety about what kind of fools they might make of themselves. Sure enough, Li Rufeng had cooked up a new training exercise—camouflage and stealth training—and had specially invited Zhao Gang, an experienced veteran Captain from the army, to oversee it. At the start of the training, Captain Zhao Gang explained the essentials of camouflage to the recruits with a stern face: "Camouflage is not just about dressing to match the surrounding environment; your expression, movements, and even your breathing must merge with the scene you are in, so that you can fool the enemy's eyes." The recruits listened with a half-understanding, but their faces were plastered with eagerness to give it a try. Liu Erlengzi volunteered to be the first to try. He threw on a makeshift camouflage suit woven from branches and weeds, and mimicking the posture Captain Zhao Gang had taught, he lay flat in the grass. But after only a moment, he felt an itch all over his body and could not help reaching out to scratch it.