At 5:00 a.m. when most students were still in their sweet dreams, a loud sound of a whistle was heard, waking up the students who were with confused expressions.

"What's that sound? What's happening here?" Du Xiaoxing woke up in a daze and asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Mao Dan sat up in a daze as well. He looked around yet his mind was not working yet. Obviously, he was still asleep.

"I don't know." Gu Bai shook his head. He had just woken up and was not sure what had happened.

At this time, the whistle continued, so the students couldn't sleep peacefully.

"What's the occasion? Is anyone mad here? Why is anyone annoying all of us early in the morning? What time is it?"

"You are interrupting our sleep!" 

There were noisy sounds outside. Most of them were the students who were woken up by the sound.

"Get up! It's time for your morning exercise!" The drillmaster's voice was heard from outside the door, which sobered the students up. However, more students complained after hearing his words.

"Sir, it's just five o'clock. Aren't we supposed to start at eight o'clock?"

"Sir, we are still sleepy. I'm afraid we will be too tired to start training but sleep there directly. Will you show some mercy and let us start at eight o'clock?"

Several students haggled with the drillmaster. As a result, even if they were supposed to run 10 laps, they had to run 20 laps instead. And the more they said, the more they had to run.

Therefore, everyone had to keep quiet but complained loudly inside.

"Get up, guys. I'm afraid our drillmaster is probably waiting outside for us," Gu Bai said while wearing his clothes.

The dormitory was assigned yesterday. There were four people in one dormitory. Gu Bai, Wen Yan, Mao Dan, and Du Xiaoxing happened to live in the same dormitory.

As expected, when the four of them dressed up and opened the door, they saw Wang Jianjun standing near them, staring at the row of the dormitory silently.

"Good morning, Sir," Gu Bai and the others immediately said.

Wang Jianjun nodded at them and said, "Go run 10 laps at the playground."

"Yes, sir!" Gu Bai echoed immediately, pulling his friends to join him.

"10 laps at the beginning? We should have continued to sleep instead of opening the door." Mao Dan was desperate.

He had checked the dormitories beside them and heard nothing. Obviously, the students were still sleeping.

"If you do that, I'm afraid you will have to run more," Gu Bai said with a smile.

When the four of them came to the playground, some students had already got there and ran. Since there was no drillmaster watching, they ran randomly. Some were even walking.

Soon, Gu Bai and the other four joined the team.

During their run, more and more students joined them. It could tell from their faces that they were diligent yet they had no choice but to follow the order.

The drillmasters also came to the playground to supervise them. The students ran faster, fearing that they would be punished again.

"Lin Qi, how many laps did the drillmaster tell you to run?" As Mao Dan ran to one of their classmates, he asked in confusion.

Lin Qi was his classmate at Imperial University and lived beside his dormitory. When Mao Dan went out in the morning, he saw Lin Qi's dormitory door closed.

"Fifteen," Lin Qi replied in low spirits.

"Fifteen? Why do you have to run five more laps? We were asked to run ten laps." Mao Dan was surprised, but he didn't mean to boast.

Lin Qi hung down his head lower upon hearing this, "We were a few minutes later than you guys, but the drillmaster punished us for running five more laps. I heard we were lucky. Some students were punished for running ten more laps. Alas."

Recalling how Gu Bai had urged them to get up and come to the playground, Mao Dan felt lucky.

He was blessed to come with Gu Bai this morning, or he would have been asked to run fifteen or twenty laps.

As a result, Mao Dan admired Gu Bai more, feeling like Gu Bai almost knew everything. If he kept following Gu Bai's instructions, he might as well not need to think about anything.

More and more students joined other students in the playground. They ran as they scolded. However, they soon lost their strength to scold but kept moving forward.

Gu Bai and his friends soon finished ten laps. When Mao Dan and Du Xiaoxing lay down with their legs trembling, Gu Bai and Wen Yan were still standing aside.

Although Wen Yan was in a sweat, he looked fine and his breath was even. Mao Dan and Du Xiaoxing couldn't help feeling jealous.

"Aren't you two too healthy? Ten laps are about 4,500 yards, but you guys only sweat a bit. Which levels are your physical strength?" Mao Dan asked in envy and curiosity.

"Level A," Wen Yan said lightly.

"Bravo, man. What about you, Xiaobai? Are you an S?" Seeing Gu Bai was in a better spirit than Wen Yan, Mao Dan guessed.

Gu Bai recalled Shen Bai's level and answered, "Level E."

"What? Level E?" Mao Dan shouted in disbelief.

"Well, I was level E before." Gu Bai then added inwardly, "I'm not sure which level I am at present."

Shen Bai was abandoned by the Shen family because of his poor health and low level of spirit.

Mao Dan couldn't help but give Gu Bai a thumbs-up. "That's amazing. How did you manage to act normally at your present level?"

Gu Bai replied, "More practice."

"I'm dead already." Mao Dan lay on the ground directly.

Gu Bai shook his head helplessly but didn't tell them to relax their calves. They had only run more than 4,000 yards today, which was much shorter than the distance they had run yesterday.

They were all exhausted after running so far yesterday, but they were soon as good as new.

Gu Bai had to admit that people in the interstellar era were stronger than people on earth, and they recovered faster.

At the morning exercise, the drillmasters allowed them to drink some nutrient fluid and have a rest.

The training started at eight o'clock in the morning.

"From now on, every word I say is an order. All you have to do is obey. If you have any questions, raise your hand. You are not allowed to say anything unless I let you. If anyone disobeys the rules or orders, well, you don't want to know what the punishment is," Wang Jianjun said seriously.

Several students were not comfortable with the rules, but they retreated when they met Wang Jianjun's gaze.

"If you are not happy with my rules, bear it and vent your anger any way you want after training. But if I ever see anyone do that, well." Wang Jianjun looked at them with threat, which startled all of them.

Mao Dan was always talkative, sharing everything he knew with Gu Bai. When he heard the rules and wanted to complain to Gu Bai, Wang Jianjun noticed him and called him directly.

"The third one in the third row, out!" Wang Jianjun shouted sternly.

The students were all stunned. looking at each other while checking their positions. When they finally realized they were not the one who was called, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't push me to say it again!" Wang Jianjun was obviously furious.

"Mao Dan, out." Gu Bai reminded him in a low voice.

Only then did Mao Dan realize that the third person in the third row was himself. Under everyone's gaze, he slowly walked out of the queue.

Wang Jianjun ordered, "50 push-ups, and 20 jumping Jack. Now!"

Mao Dan had to follow the order with a bitter face while Wang Jianjun made him an example to intimate with other students.

"Next, I'll tell you about the missions next month. In the first week, I'll lead you to practice basic training, and you will team up with one class as a unit. From the second week, you'll be assigned to different formations for special training." Wang Jianjun made it clear to the students.

After all, these students were not his soldiers. Otherwise, all he needed to do was tell them the missions without any explanation or telling them anything in advance.

After the overall arrangement of the month training, Wang Jianjun started his basic training based on his rules for the new soldiers.

All the students felt like hell when they finished the day. They used to do nothing except cook. How could they bear any of it?

In addition to a few people with higher physical fitness levels who could still stand still, other people had long been lying on the playground, staying there as if they were at home.

"I'll sleep here tonight. If we have any training tomorrow, I will be the first to get up."

"I won't leave either. We'll only have nutrient fluid for supper anyway. If anyone could take one for me, I'd appreciate it!"

"I'm not leaving, either. I feel broken, just like you guys. It's just our first day here, and the drillmaster said we just had the simplest training. What about tomorrow? Will I be intact when we leave here?"

"I don't think I can make it to the end. Who the hell told us that the training was enjoyable and we could wander around after training? Come to me, and I promise not to beat you to death!"

"Forget it. We won't have enough strength even if we have time. It's a trap, an obvious trap. And we are already inside it, having no way out."

"I can't bear it! I'll fool the freshmen around in the forum next year when they come to school and let them know how 'happy' we are here."

Several students lay on the playground and chatted in a good mood no matter if they were from the same class or not.

When Gu Bai heard the conversation before leaving, he couldn't help chuckling when he recalled what Fang Weixuan had said before.

It was an old tradition indeed. And now, the new ones seemed to have inherited it without teaching.