Chapter 29: Hellish Special Training

"Your personal guard?" Shen Xing was astonished.

Although he was not a member of the military, he understood the role of a personal guard. As the name implied, it was a close-range protector—essentially a watered-down or reserve version of a death squad soldier. While the position carried higher risks, the benefits were far more generous than those of a regular soldier. Generally, it was an opportunity many soldiers scrambled for, but beyond individual strength, personal rapport was an even more critical factor.

Shen Xing asked himself, and he knew there was virtually no trust between him and Ouyang Lin. Yet, she was making him her personal guard; wasn't that absurd?

"If she’s doing this out of concern for me, she doesn't have the motive... Could it really be for the sake of Yang Qing? I find it hard to believe Ouyang Lin cares that much about her," Shen Xing mused, unable to wrap his head around it.

Ouyang Lin seemed to perceive his doubts and offered a brief explanation: "Don't let your imagination run wild; the situation isn't as complex as you think. You only need to know that you are in urgent need of massive military merit, and starting as my personal guard is your best option right now. Besides... you don't have the right to refuse."

Shen Xing fell silent. Being at her mercy, he truly lacked any say in the matter. Whether she made him a guard or a common soldier, he had no choice but to comply.

"You're right. I have no choice," Shen Xing said with a shrug. "So, what’s next?"

Ouyang Lin pointed to the phone on the table. "Call your family. For the next two months, you will undergo an intense special training program I’ve arranged for you. During this time, you are forbidden from having any contact with the outside world."

Shen Xing had no choice but to pick up the phone. After a moment of hesitation, he dialed Tang Xueer’s number. Her voice sounded anxious, as she had woken up that morning to find him missing and unreachable. Shen Xing offered a few words of comfort, intending to give her the excuse he had prepared, but the words died in his throat.

Tang Xueer was a simple, honest girl who had always been sincere with him. Empathizing with her, Shen Xing couldn't bear to deceive her for any reason. In the end, he simply told her that he had encountered an unavoidable situation and wouldn't be able to return home for the next two months, meaning their wedding would have to be postponed. Tang Xueer was naturally shocked and couldn't help but press him for answers, but Shen Xing could not tell her the truth.

Amidst the back-and-forth, Ouyang Lin snatched the phone away and shut it off.

"Hey, don't! I wasn't finished!" Shen Xing was stunned and reached out to grab it back. Ouyang Lin gave him a simple push, and he fell heavily back into his chair, unable to rise for a moment.

"Who said you were finished? Let me tell you the first rule here: for non-official calls, you are not allowed to speak for more than one minute," Ouyang Lin said, putting the phone away with a cold expression.

Shen Xing clutched his chest, feeling as if he had been rammed by an ox. He wanted to curse at this unreasonable rule, but the pain in his chest reminded him that when one is under another's roof, one must bow their head. Thus, he remained silent, signifying his compliance.

"Are you bad-mouthing me in your head?" Before he knew it, Ouyang Lin stepped forward and gripped his chin. Her eyes flashed with a dangerous glint.

"I... I didn't." Shen Xing shook his head. Naturally, he couldn't admit to such a thing.

"Hmph, you’d better not. Otherwise, your 'strict training' will be upgraded to 'hellish training'." Ouyang Lin scrutinized him for a moment before letting go.

Shen Xing breathed a sigh of relief, yet he was filled with dread for the life to come. He felt that Ouyang Lin was temperamental—to put it bluntly, she was moody. Being around someone like that was exhausting.

However, contrary to his expectations, even though Ouyang Lin insisted this wasn't "hellish training," Shen Xing spent the next two months doubting that repeatedly. The reason was simple: it was pure torture. The intensity felt on par with special forces training, and he was simultaneously forced to study pharmacology at a high level. It was no exaggeration to say that every day felt like a year.

On the first day, he got a preliminary look at the training program. Ouyang Lin gave him a thin booklet; Shen Xing mocked it, only to realize upon opening it that it was merely the table of contents.

By the fifth day, the inhuman intensity had brought him to the brink of a breakdown. He began toying with the idea of coming clean to Ouyang Lin, thinking that because his abilities were so abnormal, the military would likely prioritize cultivating him rather than dissecting him. But as his muscle soreness eased, he abandoned the thought. To prevent such dangerous ideas from surfacing again, he came up with a method: he carved a shallow wound on the inside of his thigh. The stinging pain was enough to keep him sharp without hindering his movement. Every day thereafter, he would reopen the scab to remind himself not to indulge in such dangerous fantasies.

By the seventeenth day, he had grasped the fundamentals of pharmacology and began attempting to formulate basic reagents.

By the twenty-fourth day, his success rate for basic reagents reached sixty percent, a speed that shocked his instructor. The instructor proposed taking Shen Xing on as an official disciple, guaranteeing he could be trained into a high-level pharmacist, but Ouyang Lin flatly refused.

By the thirtieth day, he successfully produced his first target reagent, which the military dubbed the "Limit-Breaking Reagent." Shen Xing kept his true progress hidden and secretly stashed the vial away. He knew that with his system, as long as he found a chance to give this reagent to a certain woman, he could replicate a thousand of them. From then on, he could deliver them to the military periodically without needing to exert any more effort.

By the thirty-sixth day, he had adapted to the training intensity. Because he had already mastered the reagent formulation, he gained more free time. Unexpectedly, Ouyang Lin noticed this and ruthlessly doubled the training load. As he lay awake in pain that night, he vowed that he would find an opportunity to punish this woman properly!

By the forty-seventh day, after deliberate observation, Shen Xing noticed that the relationship between Ouyang Lin and Song Yuanqing was subtle. To his eyes, Ouyang Lin didn't like Song Yuanqing much, while Song Yuanqing was somewhat proactive but not overly infatuated. Yet, because their conditions were so well-matched, their relationship remained stable, if lukewarm. Unsurprisingly, an engagement seemed imminent. The rumors were rampant, and Shen Xing was well aware. As he pondered late into the night, he decided that his punishment for Ouyang Lin would begin with that engagement.