Fifteen minutes. That was all Qin Bing gave him before she walked away, leaving Xiao Ke to collapse onto the dusty courtyard ground. Four straight hours of brutal, high-intensity training had hollowed him out. Every muscle screamed in protest. He felt like he couldn't even lift a finger.
She returned just as his breathing was evening out, holding two bottles of water and a few dense, compressed rations bars. She tossed one of each to him. "Here. Hydrate and eat. Get your energy back."
He didn't need to be told twice, tearing into the rations like a starving animal and gulping down the water. Out here, on the edge of the world, a full stomach and the strength to fight were everything. You never knew when the next battle would erupt, when the dead would come scratching at the gates.
They sat on the courtyard steps together, a strange tableau of quiet intensity. She sipped her water with an easy calm while he devoured his food. Her phoenix eyes, sharp and analytical, studied his profile. When she'd first agreed to train him, it had been a practical decision. They were short on capable fighters, and frankly, she felt a little guilty for having mistaken him for a deserter and thrown him in the brig.
But now, she knew she'd made the right call.
Xiao Ke wasn't a natural, not like some prodigies she'd seen. Nor was he the most relentless grinder she'd ever commanded. But he had that rare, potent combination: more talent than the grinders, and more grit than the naturals. A man like that, willing to push through the pain, was destined to become a razor-sharp weapon. An elite.
After he'd finished, Xiao Ke leaned back with a satisfying groan and stretched his aching muscles. He chanced a glance at her and his breath hitched. He hadn't realized how close she was sitting—close enough that anyone watching would have assumed they were a couple. As he turned, his eyes met hers, and for a dizzying second, the world seemed to stop. His heart hammered against his ribs.
He quickly dropped his gaze, suddenly fascinated by the cracks in the stone steps, forcing down the surge of emotion. It was a stupid thought, a dangerous one.
Qin Bing seemed completely unfazed. In her world, he was her subordinate, her comrade-in-arms. They were brothers on the battlefield. What was strange about two brothers sitting shoulder-to-shoulder?
She glanced at the time. "Alright, break's over. Let's go. I'm teaching you the Assault and Kill technique."
"Yes, ma'am!"
She drew the long, lean military saber from her hip, its polished steel gleaming in the dim light. The technique, like her hand-to-hand instruction, was brutally efficient. There were no wasted motions, no elegant flourishes—just a handful of movements honed on the battlefield for one purpose: to kill as quickly as possible.
She demonstrated the forms once, a deadly dance of precision and power, then had him practice on his own.
Again, he picked it up fast, his body instinctively understanding the deadly logic of the moves. The only problem was his stamina. After four hours of combat drills, the standard-issue 1.5kg saber felt like it was forged from lead. His arms burned, turning to noodles, trembling with every swing.
The exhaustion was a physical pain, a screaming siren in his mind urging him to stop, to beg for another break.
But just as the thought took hold, a slideshow of failures flickered behind his eyes. His sister's face, pale and thin, before she starved in his arms. The little beggar girl from the tavern, dead because of his inaction. And finally, Qin Bing's voice, sharp as a shard of glass in his memory: I'm not stopping you for the sake of the 'bigger picture.' I'm stopping you because you're weak. In this world, weakness is the original sin.
Weakness is the original sin.
The words echoed in the space where his strength used to be. The weak couldn't protect anyone. Not their family, not their friends, not even themselves. Strength was the only currency that mattered in this broken world.
The desire for rest evaporated, replaced by a cold, hard resolve. He tightened his grip on the saber, the pain a welcome reminder of what he was fighting for, and forced his body to move.
After two more hours, Qin Bing finally spoke. "Alright. Time for live sparring. I'm your opponent."
With a casual flick of her wrist, she snapped a thick, meter-long branch from a nearby tree. She was going to use that against his steel saber.
Despite his exhaustion, a spark of indignation flared in Xiao Ke's chest. He knew he was no match for her, but a branch? It felt like an insult.
She read his expression instantly. "Swallow your damn pride before it gets you killed," she snapped. "If you can block my attacks with that saber while I'm using this branch, you'll already be at the level of an elite soldier in the Black Shark Legion."
He stared at her, wondering if she was bluffing or if she was truly that terrifyingly skilled. The stories the old veterans told, calling her the "Valkyrie" of the Legion, suddenly seemed a lot more plausible.
He pushed his foolish pride aside, raised his saber, and committed everything he had to the fight.
He lunged, executing a basic slash from the Assault and Kill technique. She sidestepped with impossible agility, her branch whipping out to meet his blade. He expected to shear right through the wood. Instead, the clang of wood on steel was shockingly loud, and a massive, unseen force vibrated up his arm, knocking his saber clean off its trajectory.
Before he could recover, the branch blurred through the air. CRACK.
A sharp sting erupted on his cheek. "Agh!" he cried out, stumbling back. A red welt was already rising on his skin.
He clutched his face. "Hey! Not the face! You've already turned it into a Picasso. If you keep this up, Duan Canglong and the guys won't even recognize me."
A small, dangerous smile touched her lips. "Fine. Again."
They clashed again. And again. And again. Each time, she dismantled him with contemptuous ease. For the next two hours, the branch was a relentless storm, striking his arms, legs, and torso. He lost count of the welts and bruises. Only sheer, stubborn willpower kept him on his feet, the twin tortures of pain and exhaustion threatening to drag him into darkness.
Finally, at four in the morning, eight hours after they had begun, she called a halt. "Go. Shower. Rest."
As he turned to leave, she tossed him a small vial. "Military recovery agent."
It was a standard-issue version, nothing like the near-mythical "Angel's Kiss," but it did the job. It would flush the fatigue from his system and repair the damaged muscle tissue. No matter how broken he felt now, by morning, he'd be ready to do it all over again.
He mumbled his thanks and limped back to his squad's barracks. He showered in the dark, downed the potion, and collapsed into his bunk.
The next morning, he woke up feeling… sore, but not broken. The crippling weakness he expected after pushing his body to its absolute limit was gone, replaced by a dull, manageable ache. The potion had worked wonders.
He got up, energized, and joined Duan Canglong and the others.
"Jesus, Captain!" Duan Canglong exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Did you tangle with Wild Wolf's crew last night? You look like you lost a fight with a meat grinder. We barely recognize you."
"Training," Xiao Ke grunted. "And don't mention that bastard. If I go after him, I'm not stopping until every last one of his crew is dead."
When they figured out it was Commander Qin who had done the damage, they didn't know whether to laugh or wince, figuring Xiao Ke must have seriously screwed up to earn that kind of "special attention."
The morning was devoted to standard group physical training. Qin Bing led the entire detachment on a conditioning run around the perimeter of the town. As they passed the tavern, Wild Wolf and his mercenaries were lounging outside, drinking.
Seeing the striking figure of Qin Bing jogging past, Wild Wolf leaned against a window frame and let out a lewd whistle. "Hey, Commander! Made up your mind about my little proposition?" His "proposition" was simple: if she spent the night with him, he and his men would agree to help defend the town.
Qin Bing didn't even glance his way, her pace unwavering. But every one of her soldiers, Xiao Ke included, shot daggers at him.
Wild Wolf's eyes landed on Xiao Ke, noticing the slight limp from his still-healing leg injury, exaggerated by his fatigue. A cruel smirk spread across his face. "A goddamn cripple," he sneered, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Looks like the pretty Commander is scraping the bottom of the barrel for fighters. Heh. It's only a matter of time before she comes crawling to me."
Xiao Ke shot him a look of pure hatred before turning away and jogging to catch up with the formation.
The next three days were a crucible. Day after day, he was pushed to his breaking point and beyond. Group physical training in the morning, followed by eight hours of private hell with Qin Bing every night. Four hours of combat drills, four hours of saber techniques, with Qin Bing sparring him for half of it, relentlessly hammering his flaws out of him. And every night, another vial of recovery agent, the chemical fire that knit his body back together so it could be torn apart again the next day.
He was transforming. The progress was explosive, fueled by his own grit, Qin Bing's brutal but brilliant instruction, and the steady supply of military-grade meds.
On the fifth night, at eight o'clock sharp, he arrived in her courtyard, ready for the nightly ritual.
But this time, something was different. She emerged from her house not in her simple training clothes, but decked out in full combat gear.
"Tonight, we're skipping practice," she said, her voice devoid of its usual instructional tone. It was cold, hard steel. "It's time for a live-fire exercise. Time you got some blood on your hands. A soldier isn't a real soldier until he has."
He thought she meant they were going to hunt an animal, maybe slaughter a pig for rations. "Where are we going?"
Her reply hit him like a physical blow.
"The Ye family estate," she said, her eyes glinting like chips of ice. "We're going to wipe Wild Wolf and his entire useless crew off the map. I've been tolerating their filth for days. I was saving them for you."
Xiao Ke stumbled, the world tilting on its axis. All this time, she hadn't been ignoring Wild Wolf. She'd been marinating him, turning him into the perfect final exam for her new apprentice.