104 Chapter 35.2 - Military Base

When Xue Jun left the room, he felt Li Xinwen's spiritual signature disappear without a trace. With a frown, he opened the door once more, only to see it empty, void of any living things. His frown deepens and he took out his phone and made a call. "Hello? The room I used today, make sure no one else uses it for the rest of the day. En, I'll pay you for it. Thank you," Xue Jun said to his phone before he ended the call.

He didn't know where Li Xinwen went but just in case, he felt that it is better to be safe than sorry. By making sure that no one uses the room, he can at least prevent people from seeing what they shouldn't be seeing. When he came down, he saw that Xue Rui is already waiting for him by the entrance.

"Xinwen?" Xue Rui asked.

"Already left," Xue Jun replied. "Let's go. I'll bring you to the training ground today to get you to experience the environment there," Xue Jun added as he walked out of the establishment. Xue Rui simply followed suit, without any question.

Two and a half-hour later, they finally arrived at the training ground that Xue Jun mentioned. It was located quite far from the city, and it was actually a military base. Xue Jun glanced over at Xue Rui who looked at the base with wide eyes, almost like a child seeing something new for the first time.

"Look at you," Xue Jun shook his head before he gestured for Xue Rui to follow him. "First, let us go to the general office room and have you registered. Even as a visitor, you still need to fill in your information for identification purpose or else, it would be too much of a bother if I have to accompany you all the time whenever you want to go somewhere within the base."

Xue Jun led Xue Rui through the base and whenever they walked past a personnel, they would stop what they were doing and saluted Xue Jun. Though Xue Rui already knew that his brother is a high ranked officer, he did not expect it was to the point where others would put away whatever they were doing just to pay their respect to his eldest brother.

"Ge, everyone here is your men?" Xue Rui asked.

"En. Though the highest-ranking personnel in this place is grandfather, everyone here is my men. There are in total, about 3000 personnel here, with 571 officers. But you do not need to remember them. You are only here to train, not to be a soldier," Xue Jun replied.

The admiration that Xue Rui has for his eldest brother was pushed up to the highest height. Compared to these soldiers, those bodyguards he used to employ was nothing.

In the general office, Xue Jun had the officer in charge of personnel's registration help Xue Rui to register. Because Xue Rui is only here to train, the place he could access was limited. He can access his own dorm room, the cafeteria, the infirmary, the shooting range and the training ground. The rest, if he ever needed to, he will need to get Xue Jun to help him.

"Jun-ge, I don't have access to the main entrance?" Xue Rui asked Xue Jun as he took his meal card, water card and his ID pass.

"No. It is to prevent you from running away," Xue Jun replied. "As I have mentioned before, you are not allowed to leave until you finished your training. So starting next week, this place will be your home."

Xue Rui somehow feels dread but at the same time, he was also looking forward to the training. 'As long as I get stronger...' he thought to himself.

"Let me give you a quick tour around the area. Come and follow me," Xue Jun's voice brought Xue Rui out of his thought.

The two siblings went around the base, with Xue Jun leading and explaining to Xue Rui about the base's layout. The first place he brought Xue Rui to is the Military Dorm building. "This is where our soldiers rest and sleep when they are free," Xue Jun said as he walked inside, followed by his younger brother. Like other communal building, there is a security guard on duty. Their task is to make sure that nothing 'dangerous' were being brought in into the building.

"Your room is on the same floor as mine," Xue Jun said as they entered the elevator. He pressed on the 5th floor before closing the door. "The floor is divided by ranks. The top floor is where most of the high ranked personnel live. The room is also better compared to the lower floor, thanks to grandfather's 'little tweaking'."

The elevator stopped and they walked through the hallway. They didn't walk for long before Xue Jun stopped before a door. "This is your room. My room is right at the end of the hallway over there. Would you like to go and see your room first?"

"En. Let me familiarize with the room, ah! Who knows how long I will be staying here," Xue Rui replied.

"There's two way to unlock the door. By keying in your passcode, or simply swipe your ID over the device here," Xue Jun pointed at the small machine mounted on the wall beside the door. "Both will need your fingerprint for confirmation. The reason for such tight security is because this floor is where high ranked personnel lives and sometimes, we bring important files over for review. Go on and try to open your door."

Xue Rui nods his head and swiped his ID pass over the machine and once he was prompted to provide his fingerprint, Xue Rui placed his thumb over the sensor. It only took a few seconds before the machine issued a beep and then, there was the sound of the door being unlocked.

Opening the door, Xue Rui finally saw the inside of the room. Other than a simple bed, a locker, a table and a lamp table, there was no other furniture. There was another door in the room, which led to a small bathroom. There's no bathtub and only a showerhead.

"The hot water is limited, so if you're late, you will have to make do with a cold shower in the morning. Go and scan your water card over to the small machine by the bathroom door," Xue Jun told Xue Rui who did as he was told. There was a single 'beep' and then, numbers were shown on the display which says 1000. "See the number? It means that you have 1000 litres of water supply access. Once this number reaches 0, there will be no more water supplied to this room. To turn it off, just press the red button over here," Xue Jun pressed the button and the display is turned off.

"What will I do if I need more water?" Xue Rui asked.

"Naturally request from the general office from before. You will have to pay for it though. It is 300 yuan per 1000 litres. Though for you, it might be cheap, for others here, it is quite expensive. So they usually do quick shower to save their money," Xue Jun informed his brother. "Like school dormitories, lights out at 10:00 PM. If you need to do some work, use the lamp table. Now come on. Let's go to the next place."

After showing Xue Rui his room, Xue Jun brought Xue Rui to the shooting range and explained to him how to use the facility. Next was the cafeteria, then the infirmary. Lastly, Xue Jun brought Xue Rui to the training ground. "Every morning, this is where you should be. Starting next week, you are required to run laps here. Since you are a beginner, I won't ask for much. Ten laps in 30 minutes, every morning no later than 6:00 AM," Xue Jun said to Xue Rui.

"Ten laps...? Jun-ge... isn't that too much? Ten laps are roughly 4 kilometres, ah!"

"Is 4 kilometre too much for you? My men usually do 10 kilometres in 50 minutes. Would you like that instead?" Xue Jun asked back.

"No. 4 kilometre is okay..." Xue Rui replied meekly.

"Good. Since we're already here, how about we go for two laps? It'll help burn down those calories you got from lunch earlier," Xue Jun said as he walked towards the track.

"Now?!" Xue Rui exclaimed in surprise. "But my shoes..."

Xue Jun looked down and saw Xue Rui's expensive branded shoes. "No problem. Take it off and use mine," he replied as he crouched down and took off his military boots. "I can go barefooted."

"..." Xue Rui realized that he cannot escape, so he silently obliged and took off his shoes, replacing them with his eldest brother's military boots. He only put on one of them before he realized that the boots were heavy. "Ge! This is too heavy, ah!"

"Quit complaining like a chicken, ba! Even the women in the military didn't complain as much as you do when they first started! Hurry and put it on then go warm up! If you don't finish your two laps in five minutes, I'll increase the difficulty of your training next week!" Xue Jun said as he warmed his leg muscles.

Xue Rui who was suddenly forced to go for a run: 'Ge, this is not what you said last night, ah!!'