Chapter 88. Perseverance Matters
"Who told you about the protection mechanism?" Yang Manli stared at Han Sen madly. Of course, she knew about this trick.
"What protection mechanism? I do not understand what you are talking about?" Han Sen looked innocent.
"You won’t tell? Go get a 7.0 practice bow and some arrows," Yang Manli calmed down and said coldly.
Han Sen did not know what she wanted to do, and did what she asked.
"You know the standard stance to draw the string?" Yang Manli looked at Han Sen and asked.
"Yes." Han Sen nodded.
"Very good, pull the string to the fullest on standard stance," Yang Manli said quietly.
Han Sen had worked hard on archery so his stance was perfect and he easily pulled the string to the fullest.
"Good stance." Han Sen was surprised to hear Yang Manli’s compliment.
"Thank you, Captain." Still, Han Sen knew he was in trouble.
"Hold this position until midnight. If you move during this period and I do not get the answer I want, you do not need to show up here again. Even if the stationmaster came here herself, one of us must go." Yang Manli turned to leave.
Seeing Yang going away, the soldiers ran back and the one who told Han Sen about the protection mechanism felt guilty and said, "Sorry buddy, I did not expect Yang to be onto you. I did you harm instead of good."
"It’s just a few hours. I’ll be fine." Han Sen said casually.
"Do not underestimate the standard stance. Twenty minutes was all right, but two hours is just torture. A 7.0 bow is not a joke, usually we can’t even last two hours with a 6.0 bow. It’s four hours until midnight. Yang is really brutal this time."
"I say let’s go apologize. Just tell her we all told him about the loophole. Or else he would probably not be able to use his arms ever again."
"If we have to. Judging from her look, we would suffer as well."
The soldiers complained and sighed.
"No need. I’ll give it a shot. My endurance has always been good. Four hours, I think there should be no problem." Han Sen called the soldiers who were going to apologize back.
"It doesn’t matter how good your endurance is. It’s torture."
Han Sen smiled, "I’ve seen worse. Don’t go yet. If I can’t do it, you could go then. Maybe by then Yang Manli will see how miserable I am and lessen the punishment."
"That is also true. Buddy, you hang in there first. Let us know when it gets bad. We will go and confess." The soldiers were loyal.
Hen Sen nodded and did not speak. Remaining motionless was sometimes even worse than violent movement, especially when he was also drawing a 7.0 bow.
In the beginning he didn’t feel much, but after half an hour, his arm muscles began to feel numb, and with the passage of time, this numb feeling was more and more intense.
In just an hour, Han Sen was sweating like rain, his arms burning and whole body trembling.
Han Sen gritted his teeth and started to practice Jadeskin. A spring-like coolness flowed through all his veins, where the numb feeling was gradually relieved.
Through the monitor, Yang Manli would glance at Han Sen from time to time. She saw him keeping the stance but started to tremble when it was approaching an hour. His endurance was already beyond her expectation. Even the soldiers can only last this long.
Yang Manli predicted he could last about at most one and a half hours, certainly less than two hours.
"Cheating in your first training session. I have to put you through hell." Yang Manli did not really want a name from Han Sen. His silence was a quality she could appreciate and if he had confessed about the person who had told him, she would have looked down on him.
After working for a while, Yang Manli checked on him again when it was an hour and a half, and found he was still standing there.
Yang Manli could not help but frown, as Han Sen looked better now than half an hour ago. He had stopped trembling and was sweating less. In general, he looked more relaxed.
"He moved?" Yang Manli was not sure and played the footage backward, noticing Han Sen had not moved in the last 30 minutes.
"Odd!" Yang Manli did not go back to work, but paid full attention to Han Sen's image.
Han Sen had been standing for two hours.
"Buddy, you're awesome. Can you keep going?"
"Your endurance is out of this world. If you are this good in every aspect, you could definitely go to the Alliance Central Military Academy."
"Brother, you a real man!" A soldier gave him a thumbs-up.
"Let us know if you can’t keep going. Don’t risk hurting your own body. It’s not worth it."
Keeping his body motionless, Han Sen smiled and said, "I feel okay. I can definitely hold until midnight. No need to check on me."
"Brother, if you can really hold until midnight, you will be under my protection in the future."
"Your protection? Do you dare to fight Yang or Qin Xuan?"
"Ahem, I was just saying. Do not be so serious."
The soldiers took a shower and went to the cafeteria, leaving Han Sen alone in the gym. He was practicing Jadeskin secretly and felt its power welling from every body cell, eliminating his fatigue.
When Han Sen had insisted for three hours, even Yang Manli was shocked. She even doubted if the soldiers had hacked the monitor and all she saw was a loop.
Soon she ruled out that possibility and left the office for the gym.