Chapter 40: Physicality is King

"I, I can cook!"

Li Siyao immediately became interested. "Are you sure? What kind of cuisine?"

Yang Rongrong smiled bitterly. "You're giving me too much credit. Cuisine? I can only make some home-style dishes from Yunnan Province."

"For example?"

"Wild mushroom hot pot! Stir-fried wild mushrooms! Minced mushroom with dried tofu! Pan-seared king oyster mushrooms! Home-style stir-fried oyster mushrooms! Cordyceps mushroom shreds! Dry-fried fresh mushrooms..."

Li Siyao...
Zhao Baitong...
Yang Jie...

It really was a balanced diet of nothing but mushrooms!

Yang Jie looked at Zhao Baitong. "Evaluate her."

Zhao Baitong counted on her fingers and said, "Wants to join, but has no skills. Can cook, but judging by that list, it’s probably amateur-hour stuff. I doubt she could even put together a decent meal. Verdict: useless."

"Besides, mushrooms are tricky. Many varieties are hard to identify. If you cook them wrong, we’ll all end up in coffins!"

Hearing this, Yang Jie hadn't even reacted yet, but Yang Rongrong couldn't hold back and lunged at Zhao Baitong.

"Ah! Ow! Let go, you're going to break my arm!"

Although Zhao Baitong was in charge of logistics, her combat skills were far above average; within a minute, she had pinned Yang Rongrong to the floor.

"Wuwuwu, I—I just want to join you all, I don't want to die!"

"I'll do whatever you want. If I can't do something, I can learn!"

*Smack!*

Zhao Baitong gave Yang Rongrong a sharp swat on the behind, causing a ripple of motion.

"That last sentence is the most valuable thing you've said so far."

Yang Jie stood up, walked to the door, and called out, "Hui-ju, are you up? Come here for a moment!"

Within a few breaths, Cui Hui-ju ran over, wearing an apron and looking every bit the housewife.

Yang Jie’s mouth twitched. "If you touch the kitchen again, I will kill you—the very cruel kind of kill!!!"

"No, no, I was just cleaning up the luggage and some things!"

Cui Hui-ju’s eyes darted away. *Damn it, how did the Boss know I was planning to make breakfast?*

"Is there something you need, Boss?"

Watching Cui Hui-ju’s persona, Yang Jie felt a hint of admiration. This woman was a housewife in an apron, a corporate elite in a suit, and a socialite in designer clothes. Her versatility was simply incredible.

"Starting today, you will train Jin Zhi-yan, Donna, Emma, and Yang Rongrong."

Cui Hui-ju didn't find this strange at all; the training for her own daughter had already been on the agenda.

"What kind of training? If it's tactical, I’m not exactly an expert."

According to Yang Jie’s classification, a qualified mercenary needed quite a few skills: combat techniques, marksmanship, foreign languages, tactics and strategy, survival skills, psychological resilience, and adaptability.

Cui Hui-ju possessed many of these skills, though her background was different.

Yang Jie smiled faintly. "Shooting and physical fitness. Focus heavily on physical training."

Back home, a contact had once asked Yang Jie what was most important for a mercenary. In his mind, it had to be marksmanship. But after years of experience, Yang Jie had told him that whether on the battlefield or in special operations, luck and physical stamina were the most important factors.

Luck aside—that mostly depended on whether your ancestors were smiling down on you—many people thought that in the age of modern weaponry, physical fitness was no longer necessary. This was a completely wrong perspective.

Only powerful physical stamina could sustain a soldier on the battlefield.

Data from the US Army showed that infantry on combat patrol typically carried an average load of 129 pounds (58.6 kilograms), sometimes even more. With a load that heavy, having to march five or ten kilometers—without physical stamina, everything else was just empty talk.

Don't think that's an exaggeration. A Delta Force operator’s body armor alone weighs 12-15 kilograms, the ballistic helmet 3-5 kilograms, ammunition and weaponry 15-20 kilograms, and basic survival gear 8-10 kilograms. An entire set comes to nearly 60 kilograms.

"Should I use my method or the Army’s?"

"Use the US Army’s method. As for your specific training? We’ll discuss that later; it’s quite demanding on the body."

"Understood!"

After breakfast, everyone went to attend to their own affairs, while Jin Zhi-yan, Donna, Emma, and Yang Rongrong were called aside by Cui Hui-ju.

Yang Jie stood up and looked at the four women. "The first rule of joining this team is to follow orders. I am giving an order now: for the next two days, you will follow Hui-ju. Whatever she says, you do. No refusals. If you refuse, get out."

The four of them exchanged glances and nodded, albeit not in perfect unison.

After Yang Jie finished speaking, he drove off.

Cui Hui-ju watched the four of them standing in a sloppy, uncoordinated line and sighed internally. There was no help for it; they only had two days. Once they reached the Dragon Kingdom, their training would continue. To put it bluntly, these two days were about establishing authority and training their obedience.

Cui Hui-ju didn't say much. She drove the four of them to a shooting range in the suburbs—a range in which Yang Jie held a stake, though the equity was currently mortgaged.

Upon reaching a VIP area, they saw various handguns laid out on the table. Since her daughter was among those who had never touched a gun, Cui Hui-ju explained things in great detail.

The morning was dedicated to shooting practice, covering everything from handguns to automatic rifles. Ultimately, it was about training for obedience, patience, and basic firearm knowledge. An hour before lunch, the four were required to learn how to disassemble and maintain their weapons.

At first, the four women, prepared for hardship, felt it wasn't so bad—all they had to do was shoot. Little did they know that they first had to learn the theory, and once they finally finished, Cui Hui-ju turned them into emotionless shooting machines.

The ammunition was limitless. They fired continuously for two full hours until their hands were nearly numb.

At noon, after a meal, they thought they might get a break, but Cui Hui-ju informed them that the afternoon would be dedicated to physical training. In their minds, physical training meant nothing more than jogging; unfortunately, they were met with the US Marine Corps’ physical training program—the version for male recruits.

Yang Jie didn't mean to torture them. In the Middle East, his own combat squad consisted of the elite of the elite; any one of them could have completed Delta Force training perfectly. Unfortunately, Yang Jie couldn't get his hands on the training methods of the Dragon Kingdom’s top special forces, which were rumored to be the pinnacle of physical conditioning in the world.

Meanwhile, having purchased smelting equipment, Yang Jie began searching the city for gold exchanges, pawn shops, and jewelry stores. Unlike the situation back home—where buying large quantities of gold would immediately make the police suspect you of money laundering—the rules here were different.