"This virtual game is quite well-developed." Qin Chu glanced at the weeping old man.
Noah knew what he meant: "Players treat this place as a game, but it's ultimately a fusion of two worlds. For the data entities in this world, this is their most real world, whether it's suffering or happiness."
The old lady had already wiped away her tears when she entered the house, seemingly afraid that her young children would see them.
Seeing the old man return crying, Qin Chu suddenly had an idea.
The next day, Qin Chu discussed it with the old man and took the scroll of official documents to the conscription office.
The official at the conscription office glanced at the document, then at Qin Chu, and asked, "Qin Rui? The age is wrong. The document says that only ten-year-olds are eligible to join the army."
Qin Chu calmly replied, "I am the youngest son of the Qin family. I couldn't make it back last night, but now that I'm back, I naturally can't let my nephew go to war."
The official thought about it and agreed, so he nodded and asked, "What's your name?"
"Qin and Chu".
This was the first time Qin Chu had used his real name in the virtual world.
He was dressed as the young master of the Zhou family, and the family he stayed with last night happened to be surnamed Qin. He applied something to his face, and his aura changed again, making him somewhat different from the portrait on the notice.
The official changed the name on the document: "Okay, go in."
With a major battle imminent, the newly recruited soldiers included the old, weak, sick, and disabled, and needed to be assessed and trained at the drill ground before they could be deployed. Those who were not qualified in terms of combat skills could stay in the logistics and mess hall.
Although a long period of time had passed, Qin Chu felt right at home as soon as he stepped into the military camp, and his knowledge of various cold weapons was no less than that of the soldiers around him.
However, he was not very tall, and when he stepped into the training ground, he made the surrounding veterans laugh.
"Look at him, he probably can't even lift a sword."
"He doesn't even look as tall as my wife!"
"I must say, apart from his dark complexion, he's quite handsome."
This remark only drew louder laughter from those around: "Old Du, after a few years away from home, you don't care if any of them are handsome; when you hug one in the middle of the night, they're all the same!"
After Qin Chu left the recruitment office outside, two soldiers carrying notices came over: "Old Liu, this area is always busy, can you help us see if we've seen this person?"
Old Liu, having just gotten a little free time, asked somewhat reluctantly, "Who hired this person?"
The two soldiers gestured to him, and Old Liu immediately sat up straight: "Prime Minister Lin? What did this man do wrong?"
Seeing how nervous he was, the two officers reassured him, "He's not a criminal."
They whispered in Old Liu's ear, "The young man that Prime Minister Lin wanted to marry has run away, and we're looking for him now!"
Old Liu immediately laughed, pointing behind him: "Looking for a guy here? What kind of eyesight do you have? Don't you even know who's in there?"
"Take a look, just in case someone happens to be passing by," one of the soldiers said, shoving the portrait directly in front of Old Liu.
Old Liu was about to brush it aside when he was stunned after seeing it clearly.
"Hey kid, look at your skinny arms and legs, are you one of those women dressed as men from those storybooks?"
The laughter that rose from all around grew increasingly excessive, and as Qin Chu approached, several soldiers simply stood up and moved closer to him.
Despite hearing the crude language, Qin Chu showed no displeasure. He was familiar with this kind of atmosphere and knew how to make these people obey him.
Glancing at the people blocking his way, Qin Chu stared at the one with the loudest voice and asked, "Do you think I'm a woman disguised as a man?"
Laughter erupted: "What's wrong? You want to prove something?"
Old Liu had already led two soldiers into the drill ground and was walking towards them with a stern face.
As they walked, Old Liu said to the two men beside him, "The person I just saw bears a resemblance to this portrait. I was careless. Who would have thought that the young man would be willing to join the army?"
A soldier comforted him, saying, "It's alright, buddy. You can't lift heavy things with your hands or shoulders. You won't last long after you come in here!"
Qin Chu had keen hearing and had already overheard the soldiers' conversation, so he immediately frowned.
To make matters worse, the soldier in front of him yelled, "Proof won't do you any good, will it? You're not a woman, what if you're a precious young man?"
The laughter around them grew louder; clearly, no one believed it. But the three soldiers were drawn to the words and had their eyes fixed on Qin Chu, the shortest of the three.
Several malicious glances were cast his way, but Qin Chu didn't rush to run away. Instead, he stepped into the nearest archery range.
The archery range was overseen by a corporal who was watching the spectacle. When he saw Qin Chu approaching, he immediately laughed: "What are you doing here? All the bows here are at least six dan (a unit of weight). Go check out the kitchen; I heard from Old Wang that they're short of a cook!"
This remark caused an uproar of laughter, even the three soldiers behind him who were arresting people laughed.
"See, I told you the boy wouldn't last a day here."
Qin Chu didn't speak, but bent down and picked up a bow.
The sergeant looked at the bow and said, "This bow is made of eight stones."
A soldier who was eating a pancake nearby heard this and shouted, "Young lady, if you can draw this bow, then I'll admit I'm a woman!"
A group of people chimed in, "That's outrageous! If you pull them apart, our entire battalion will be made up of women."
As they were laughing, they saw Qin Chu indeed put the bow down.
A burst of laughter erupted, but before the laughter subsided, Qin Chu bent down and picked up another bow.
He turned and glanced at the man he had just made the bet with, holding the bow: "You keep talking about women, who isn't a woman's son?"
"Oh, so you're lecturing people now?"
Some people got upset and rolled up their sleeves, crowding around.
Qin Chu weighed the bow in his hand and said casually, "If I can draw this bow, then forget about women, you can all go be boys and have babies."
These words stirred up the soldiers who had been silent, and they all gathered around.
The sergeant next to him glanced down and immediately lost all interest. He waved his hand and said, "This bow is ten stones thick. I can't even draw it. If you can draw it, I'll just give you my sergeant position."
Others chimed in, "If you're going to be a 'brother,' then go ahead and pull him apart. Don't make yourself cry..."
Before he could finish speaking, the thin man in front of him bent down, picked up an arrow, took a step back, and with a forceful pull of his slender arm, drew a longbow to its full length.
The laughter stopped abruptly.
But this is not the end.
Qin Chu aimed the tip of his sword at the straw target buried in the ground ahead. He loosened his grip on the arrow's fletching, and the simple arrow flew away, striking the bullseye of the target amidst the surprised and stunned gazes of everyone present.
The wooden training arrow hadn't even stopped after hitting the target; the immense impact caused it to pierce through the thick straw and embed itself completely at the root. Its bulging fletching got stuck in the bullseye, even pulling out the wooden stick buried in the soil.
The straw target and the stick tied to the stick flew out together, and were carried two or three meters away by a wooden arrow before crashing to the ground, the arrow tip sinking into the soil.
The vast training ground was noisy everywhere, but this small area was extremely quiet.
The guy with the biscuit in his mouth dropped it onto his crotch. His buddy next to him slapped him across the face, muttering, "Am I fucking dreaming...?"
The sergeant, who was about to leave, stood there frozen in a strange posture, sometimes doubting whether the bow was fake, and sometimes doubting whether the target was fake.
If both of these are true, then he is the fake one.
Qin Chu put away his bow, casually tossed it on the ground, and patted the squad leader on the shoulder: "Now I'm the squad leader."
The moment he spoke, the stunned veterans snapped out of their daze.
They had been mocking him relentlessly, but now that they'd been humiliated, they didn't seem to care. Instead, they swarmed over as if they'd encountered something incredibly good: "Damn it, Old Wang, come and see!"
Is this bow real?
"If you don't believe it, try pulling it; it's so hard to even lift!"
A group of people touched the bows, carried the targets, and a few even put their arms around Qin Chu's shoulders as if they were old friends: "Brother, you're good! Don't be fooled by my arms being twice as thick as yours. My eight-stone bow still shakes when I draw it!"
"You've really surprised us by not showing off your abilities so quietly!"
Old Liu and the others came to their senses after watching the target fly out.
They looked at Qin Chu, who had shot the target away with an arrow, then at the gentle-looking young man in the portrait in their hands, and exchanged bewildered glances: "Do you think it looks like him?"
The two officers shook their heads in unison: "He looks like a ghost."
What kind of guy is so fierce! Who the hell would dare to marry him?
The former corporal noticed the three of them and stepped forward to greet them, asking, "Is there a problem with the conscription?"
"We're looking for..." Old Liu was still a little dazed, "...to find a guy..."
Qin Chu let them look him over without any hesitation, and even pointed to a group of burly men around him: "Go ahead and look, they're all guys."
The soldiers who lost the bet and had to have children: "..."
The soldiers who just wanted a skinny, gentle guy: "..."
If they were to bring back a boy who could uproot a willow tree from here, Prime Minister Lin would probably rip their heads off.
Author's Note:
Lin Xiang: I like this kind of thing, thank you.
Chapter 57, Fourth Story (3)
A few days later, Qin Chu set off with the army.
The arrow he shot on his first day of enlistment made Qin Chu quite famous throughout the camp. No one who saw him would guess he was a young man; they all mistook him for a skinny archer.
Those searching for him in the capital couldn't possibly follow him all the way to the border, and no one believed that a young man could travel such a far place alone.
The Donghu invaded from the border, and the war dragged on for a long time. Qin Chu stayed in the army camp for two years. He thrived in this environment, and a month after the start of the war, he was appointed as a cavalry squad leader. Two years later, the number of soldiers under his command had grown to more than 300, and at times even reached 500.
This was already a miracle for a rookie soldier with no connections.
As he stepped out of the heavy military tent, the bright sun and the dry, cold wind hit Qin Chu's face. He wiped the dust off his face, and as soon as he looked up, two or three familiar faces surrounded him.
"Brother Qin, what do you say? Shall we continue fighting?"
Qin Chu took a sip of water from his water bag: "They said they wouldn't fight, and the other side has withdrawn their troops, waiting for the envoys from both sides to negotiate."
The person on the other end immediately laughed: "So you're going back? That's great! I haven't been home for two years..."
"My little girl is already five years old. I don't know if she'll still recognize me when I go back this time!"
Looking at this group of jubilant, rough-looking men, Qin Chu smiled and shook his head.
However, the situation doesn't seem so good. More than one foreign tribe is eyeing the country's borders, and there might even be others waiting to reap the benefits.
After taking two more steps forward, Qin Chu was stopped again.