The whole night, I spent in silence. The entire room was deathly still. As soon as they came back and finished dinner, they immediately collapsed onto their beds and burrowed into their thick space sleeping bags, falling fast asleep. I could tell they were all exhausted. I lay alone on my bed, hands under my head, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. In the middle of the night, the sandstorm showed its power—the howling wind and sand pounded against the walls with a crackling sound, like raindrops hitting leaves. I felt the whole house trembling in the storm, cold wind whistling through the stone-built house, making me curl up into a ball from the chill. In the latter half of the night, the sandstorm gradually subsided, and I slowly fell asleep curled up in my sleeping bag.

Even though I only fell asleep in the middle of the night, I was actually not late the next day! As soon as it was time, the bell rang in the training camp. I was the first to wake up, while everyone else in the room was still sound asleep. The moment the bell stopped, the whole room instantly burst into action—everyone scrambled to get up, get dressed, brush their teeth, and then quickly ran toward the training field. I ran with everyone to the training field. Instructor Thompson and the other two instructors were already standing there with their hands behind their backs, and behind them stood a row of assistant trainers. When Instructor Thompson saw me, a trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes. I knew he was disappointed because he couldn’t torment me—what a pervert. Are all people who’ve fought in underground boxing matches this twisted? I asked myself. No, not all of them, I told myself. At least I won’t become like that!

The morning’s cross-country run was a hundred kilometers, crossing ten mountain peaks and four rivers, with a ten-kilometer stretch of beach in between, making a big loop back to the training camp. I was a newcomer, so I didn’t have to carry a thirty-kilogram load like the others, but Instructor Thompson told me this privilege would only last three days. During the run, I fell behind the team by ten meters, just over the allowed distance, and Instructor Thompson lashed my back with his whip. My clothes tore like paper, and I staggered forward with a scream, but it made me surge ahead by three meters, then I sprinted to catch up with the team—his whip was truly fierce, silent and impossible to dodge. I fell behind three times in total. After three times, as long as I could still move, I would never fall behind again—the first time was one lash, the second time was two lashes in quick succession, almost without pause, and the third time was three lashes. I had no chance to dodge at all. Six bloody welts on my back made my whole body feel as if it had been split open by those six whip marks.

Back at the training camp, the assistant trainers had already set out a row of barbells on the training field. Instructor Thompson cracked his whip with a loud snap and shouted, “Hurry up! Two hours—if you don’t finish, there’s no breakfast, only my whip!” I followed everyone over, picked a barbell with a polished lever, and lifted it. To be honest, although I had practiced some combat sports with Uncle Brandon before and had systematic physical training—Uncle Brandon was even stricter than most coaches—but compared to here, it was nothing. The two-hundred-kilogram barbell pressed down on me, and by the seventh squat I was already out of strength. After an hour, I had only completed fifty. I saw a certain gleam in Instructor Thompson’s eyes—the gleam of a beast spotting its prey. I knew he was waiting for the moment when I failed to meet the quota after an hour, when his whip would rain down on me from all directions at a speed I couldn’t evade. I couldn’t let him have his way—not for any other reason, but simply because I couldn’t swallow my pride!

I stared at him without blinking, gritting my teeth as I lifted the barbell again and again, doing squat after squat. Instructor Thompson saw the look in my eyes, as if he saw the struggle of a dying prey. A faint smile appeared on his face, and his eyes even showed a trace of excitement! This pervert! I cursed in my heart. I really couldn’t understand how he became like this!

“Two hundred ninety-one... two hundred ninety-two... two hundred ninety-three... ... three hundred twenty-seven... three hundred twenty-eight...” I stared at him defiantly, lifting the barbell again and again with all my strength. Sweat streamed down my cheeks, forming little rivulets on my neck. Instructor Thompson looked at his watch. I didn’t know the time, but I could see his face. Suddenly, Instructor Thompson smiled, and my heart sank: It’s over! Sure enough, he raised his wrist, and the hour hand was already pointing at eight! “Toot!” He blew the whistle in his mouth, and everyone who hadn’t finished stopped. I didn’t have time to count how many people hadn’t finished, because Instructor Thompson’s whip was already lashing down on me from all directions.

Chapter Four

I didn’t get breakfast, because I hadn’t completed the quota, so there was no breakfast for me. I lay on my bed for ten minutes, changed out of my clothes that were already shredded like butterfly wings, found a complete set of clothes and forced myself to change despite the intense pain, then immediately returned to the training field.